What Does It Means To Be A Father?

Father's Day is approaching Sunday June 19. And although my earthly father has gone on to be with our Heavenly Father, his spirit is still with me and I will celebrate his legacy; not only that day but for the rest of my life. No, his absence does not alleviate me missing him; and although he was my biggest fan and support, I know he is one of my guardian angels watching over me. Thank you God!!!

A father means honor, strength, discipline, wisdom, courage, faith, love, commitment, perseverance, presence. The list can go on and on but I'll stop there. I'm sure being a father can be an awesome yet overwhelming privilege and can distort these roles. I'm sure knowing that you are the "bread-winner" or sometimes the primary care-giver can be taxing and scary but our Heavenly Father will give you the strength and stamina to succeed [as a father] so just keep on trusting in God for all you need and these vital roles will come easier to fulfill.

As a daughter, my paternal father was a real father in every sense of the word. (I'm not reducing or discounting the term dad but "dad" does not always have to be a child's biological father). A "father" is fully engaged and involved and offers [developmentally] to specific provisions to their child/children throughout their lives and are even impacted [themselves] by their doing so."

"A father handles his business without complaining about how much it will cost, how much work it takes, how often that his presence is important or how sacrificial his role." A father does not keep account of what he spends nor brags about it; he just does it because that's apart of his role.

My dad never complained about being a father because he knew that if he helped to create a life, he was also responsible for helping to take care of that life. My father knew that being a father meant that someone is depending upon him for their well-being and for setting a positive example. My father didn't stick out his chest when it was convenient or during "man-talk" but he showed his love for his children by unselfishly caring for us, which was FAR more important than any amount of money, position or social status.

"Money, neither position nor social status can take the place of real love. All these categories are finite and temporal but love is everlasting."

July 2010, in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News and The Huffington Post, Warren Buffett credited his success to his father for teaching him how to live, and explained that all parents can make a "better human being" by offering their children unconditional love: "The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it, it’s not uncritical love, that’s a different animal, but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being." Wow, what a POWERFUL testimony!

When I was a little girl, my father was one of my biggest earthly influences, other than my mother. Bud Deckard taught me to depend on God and my God-given abilities. He also taught me to save some money for a rainy day (because the rain will come). He also advised me to spend money when necessary and not try to keep up or impress others. Keep some pocket- change handy for emergencies and have one reliable friend that I can call upon no matter what the circumstance. He also taught me to pay my bills and pay them ON TIME . Do not borrow money you know you can't pay back. He taught me to live within my current means and life will be kind to me. He was right. "Life is kind because I'm not trying to keep up with others but staying ahead." Amen! These are great lessons for life and should be taught, especially by influential fathers. Simple and biblical principles should also be instilled in children and fathers should set forth a positive Christian and responsible example for their child/children to follow.

Lying, deceptive practices and pretense does NOT set forth a good example. Lip service is just jaw-jacking and anybody can do that! Fathers need to be about what you preach, how you teach and careful of your steps. Follow God first and His biblical guidelines (not human's standards) then be that father you say you are then fatherhood will become easier and more fulfilling for you.

Even though life is neither always easy nor pleasant, nothing and NO ONE should take your place as a father in the life of your child/children. Time lost can never be regained and trust is a faithful and teachable friend. BUT, if you live opposite of them, then you can only expect disappointment and trouble.

If you live by biblical principles and set good examples then you will leave your mark [in this life] with dignity, honor and integrity in Christ. BE a father, a mentor, a friend. Don’t just talk about it...BE about it! Let's back this lesson up with scripture:

Proverbs - Chapter 3:1-12

1. My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
2. for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
3. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4. then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6. in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
7. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
8. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
9. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10. then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke,
12. because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.


Happy Father's Day!

No Need to Sweat "The Bottom Line"

"His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love." - Psalm 147:10

Mammon and power are the ruling strongholds of the workplace. If you possess either of these, then you will be courted by those who serve the workplace in hopes of increasing market share. It is a competitive environment that often gives way to decisions and actions that are dictated by the financial bottom line.

A recent newspaper article stated that employers are requiring workers to put more time into their jobs, often requiring weekend work in order to be more competitive. For the Christian worker, this brings pressures on the family and will result in "lost market share" in the spiritual realm.

The Lord has a different measuring stick.

The Lord is not impressed with our ability or what we can do for Him. Only one thing delights Him -- people who fear Him and put their hope in His unfailing love.

What does it mean to fear God and place our hope in His love? It means we acknowledge that God is the source of all that we are. He is the one who gives us the ability to work, plan, and execute. He does not want us to look to our abilities, but to His abilities. Sometimes it is difficult to balance these two perspectives. However, if we ask God to show us how to maintain this balance, He will do it.

Put your hope in His unfailing love today. Then you will know that your heavenly Father is looking on you as a proud Father. No need to sweat the "the bottom line" because God said that he would supply ALL of our needs according to HIS riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19

Be Careful of Your Associations

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.

An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are.

Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you. God forbid!

Consider this:
Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Ps 1:1 Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.

Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. Amen! You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere. If they are "blind", then how can they lead YOU?

With some people you spend an evening. With others you invest it and spend a lifetime. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.

"A mirror reflects a person's face, but what that person is really like, is shown by the kind of friends that person chooses." The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and bad.

Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends. Love and appreciate both. Be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first. And though they are family to you, they may be a better friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our Friends"
"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them."
"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you
develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an
exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” COLIN POWELL



Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the
disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light
becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is
why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and
Messiah will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:11-14)

Have a blessed week everyone!

Words of Wisdom

"Don't let your lust for this temporal life forfeit your eternal blessings in Christ."

Deuteronomy 11:1
Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.

Deuteronomy 11:16-21
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

St. Matthew 22:37-39
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

St. Mark 12:30-31
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Live FULLY for HIM and stay in His grace! Have a blessed weekend saints!

-Pastor

Are You Living In "Peace"?

Hebrews 12:14
Work at living in peace with everyone...

How do you follow peace? The Bible tells us to work AT living in peace with everyone. But sometimes people act a pure fool, hurt our feelings, and do us much wrong; and sometimes we want to declare WAR! Should we be wimps and let people run all over us? No! But, we have to make sure that we handle things in love and never intentionally try to get back at people -- no matter how bad they do us; we must always deal with them in love.

God never desires us to fight our own battles or punish people for their actions - He will handle that!!! But there is something about following peace that automatically punishes people for their wrongdoings.

Remember when you were young, and there was always a popular person in school; someone that you liked haning out with because they made you feel protected or special? You could get people's attention if you were seen with that person or people would think better of you -- and no one would dare give you a hard time because they knew that this person would have your back! Well, imagine hanging out with "Peace" like that.

Imagine if "Peace" was a special person. Imagine following this person around everywhere they go. People will start reacting differently and treating you with more respect AND wanting your company. People will look at you walking with and in "peace" and know that you ARE special. Even when everyone and everything around you is in turmoil, if you are following "Peace", people will follow you; AND you would not have to worry about getting back at people or people bothering you because "Peace" WILL have your back!

Follow "Peace" and you will also be followed BY peace instead of agitation, distress, frustration, worry and trouble. Peace is the One and His name is Jesus! "And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6) Amen.

Praise Him - He's Worthy!

Praise Him all day, everyday...He's worthy. Oh that [men] would praise the LORD [for] his goodness, and [for] his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm 107:8

Today's Prayer

Father God, we thank You for this glorious day that was not promised to us. Thank You for all that you've done to keep us safe from dangers seen and unseen. Thank You for your unfailing love and for covering us, Your children, with the Blood. Lord, I ask that You forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us. Lord, lift us up and grant us peace this day. Let your dunamis power overtake us, and hold every thought captive, that is not like You. Lord, Grant us healing this day as we walk in Your will for our lives. Guide and direct our steps Lord. Keep us for all unrighteousness for Your Name sake.

God, I thank you for sending Jesus to die for us. Father keep us all until we can assemble, as believers, to praise and worship You again and again. In the matchless name of Christ, Amen!

Morning Prayer

Thank You Lord for waking us up this morning. Thank You for allowing us to face a new day that was not promised. Thank You for what you've done to keep us safe from dangers seen and unseen. Thank You for keeping us during these seasons of trial and tribulations.

As Believers, we come before You thanking You for everything, asking for nothing but Your continued mercy and grace. Thank You for Your pre-ordained blessings and favor. As obedient servants, allow us the freedom to operate as righteous Christians and give us discernment to walk away from immoral and unethical practices, as Your will is done. Be with us this day Lord, as we walk in the Light of Christ, reaching those who are lost and touching those who might need a kind word from You. We all need Your help to survive this earthly life and dwell in the heavenly life to come.

Give us the peace [each day] that surpasseth ALL understanding and help us to stand firm on your Word, even when the world is against us. Guide our steps Lord, and cover us as we walk the narrow path to victory! In Christ, we pray, Amen!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Have a blessed weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

"It's All About Love"
1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 - And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 - If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

(4 - 6) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

7 - Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 - Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 -10 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11 - When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


How much do you really love someone??? God loved us enough to give up His Son so we wouldn't have to sacrifice our sons and daughters. No more sacrificial death because Jesus was the ultimate Lamb who was slain. All God is asking us to do is love Him first then each other...it can really make all the difference in the world.

Don’t just pretend to love others -- really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” Romans 12:9

- Pastor Deckard

Celebrating MLK Day

Aug 28, 1963 – March on Washington

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

"I Have a Dream" is a seventeen minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, [1] the speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, who also spoke that day as the President of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, "Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, and he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations."

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor.


Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated.

After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days.

On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles.

In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

Let us remember the roads that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King paved for us. He put his life on the line. He took risks. He challenged the injustices in this nation and he was able to accomplish great lengths in this society in which we live. MLK gave much more than what most people are willing to give but we must try. We must get back to bold leadership in this nation; not only for our national freedoms but for our spiritual freedoms.

Yes, we can remember and pay homage to Dr. King and the legacy he left behind but let us NEVER forget the ultimate sacrifice of the One who died for every person of every nation. Jesus paved the way for all of us to have freedom of speech and freedom to live our lives. Let us live responsibly for Christ as we celebrate our freedoms in Him! The Apostle Pauls says that we are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good. (1 Corinthians 10:23) Let us do things for the common good of all people, especially those who belong to Christ.

We are indeed free if we are in Christ. No longer are WE a slave to sin and eternal death! As the scripture says in John 8:32 & 36 …Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are FREE at last!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year Saints!

May God continue to bless and keep us through out 2011, as we continue to walk in His will! Today, be led to bless someone with a smile or a kind word. Be a light and not a dark cloud. Be a positive witness for Christ and not just give out lip service. Let "them" see the God in you!

Most of all, tell somebody about the Good News! Jesus saves and God provides all we need. The Lord will give us our daily bread if only we believe He will. Just try God and you'll experience unconditional love. Trust God then you'll begin to see the promise of possibilities. Believe on Jesus Christ and God will not withhold anything good from you that's good for you.

Oodles and Oodles of love,
- Pastor D