LIKE FAITH CHURCHES

Shalom My Friends !


As we continue our journey to pronounce the vital importance of Fellowship, we noticed that within our blog, we omitted a fairly significant issue.

Early in the journey, we highlighted the mission of living our lives IN, WITH, and FOR our Father, ( Abba ) through the Calvary 'Love Sacrifice' and walking life in IN, WITH, and THROUGH ' The Way ',  the beacon of light that IS.......Jesus Christ.

And with our intent in creating what we called ' Like Faith ' Inter- Church Fellowship Initiatives, it appears we've neglected to outline ' LIKE FAITH '.  


You may likely tell by the content of previous posts that we consider Like-Faith with our Ministry is ' Bible- Based '. We believe Bible-Based to be the 'original word of God', not to be taken from, nor added to. His word is Holy,unyielding,and NEVER changing. It does NOT evolve to meet the changing ways of much of this world. It is  as it was originally written, and will always be  the Bread of Life for the Christian Soul.


( In future posts, we will examine this topic in greater and more inspirational detail. For now, if you have a few minutes, please visit the new ' Beliefs ' tab at the top of the blog. 

TODAY'S PRAYER

May your Holy Spirit, ( your Ruach ha Qodesh ),...( Also Today's Hebrew Lesson )

be stirred, and may you find that your life in Christ brings you closer to the truest happiness which is pleasing to the Father's eye.           

May you grow closer to understanding our Great and Mighty God by learning about Him through His names in the Bible within the Video just below.

Blessings of 'The Joy of Jesus'

bill

Pulpit Poetry

Dear Brethren,

I have been blessed beyond measure to have had my God directed journey cross paths with an extraordinary group of Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Their light is certainly a very strong presence in my own life, as I'm sure it is to many others.
My prayer for you, is that you too are able to surround yourselves with such God centered  Brothers and Sisters. May we forever grow in Christ together, and inspire any 'lost sheep' to do likewise.

Prior to sharing some ' Pulpit Poetry ' with you, may I be so bold as to ask a personal favor of you?
That personal favor would be fervent prayer today for two situations.
     * May I humbly ask that you pray for my Step Mother Terry Bayliss. On Tuesday she will undergo a significant surgical intervention to her neck (cervical spine).

Loving God, please entrust the care for Terry entirely to yourself today. Guide with wisdom and skill the minds and hands of Tuesdays surgical team to a successful conclusion and show the awesome power that only You posses. Please grant that every cause of illness be removed, that Terry may be restored to soundness of health so that she may live in perfect harmony with You and those around her.
                                In Jesus' Holy name we pray,

     * M y presumptuous request for a second prayer.  As most of you know, my journey to minister the ' Good News ' of Christ Jesus, began with a ministry by the name of 'Celebrate Recovery', which is a Christ Centered addiction and recovery ministry, and SO much more. (feel free to access a CR link on the blog home page)
As of late, my activity with this ministry has consisted of the most dire and serious of situations requiring intervention and more.
First and foremost may I ask that you not only pray for a very sweet Child of God whom we will call Amanda for the sake of anonymity.
Tomorrow I will join (Amanda) for a very intricate phase of this family intervention effort. I would ask that you pray that merciful and graceful loving God place the correct words in not only my mouth, but the mouths of the people involved in this effort to bring the situation to an effective conclusion that would honor God, and save this family!

Please pray that God redeem Amanda and her entire family from all curses of family destruction. 
" May they be redeemed from the madness, blindness, and confusion of heart."...(Duet. 28;29).
   May the Peace of life in Christ Jesus come to Amanda, her household, and all she has.
                              ............in Jesus' name we pray!   
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Welcome to Rev. Dr. Gough's

Pulpit Poetry Weekend

We pray you open your hearts to the poetic prowess of Dr. Gough's God-Centered writings.

With discerning prayer that these two selections may stir the Holy Spirit within each of you!

                                                    ...... blessings in the name of Yeshua

WITH  GOD

With God, our path may not always lead

   by pleasant pastures, or water still.

What matters is ... that I am His,

  and in His perfect will.

With God, I know some suffering comes -

  we each must bear our share.

What matters is ... that I am His,

  and have His blessing there.

With God, a day will be when sorrows rob

  of greatest joys, or those we love.

What matters is ... that each of His,

  is to meet, at Jesus' feet, above.

With God, He only knows if long my life

  or brief shall be my days.

What matters is ... that I am His,

  and keep walking in His ways.

With God, we have today because He cares

  in ways high above our own.

What matters is ... that WE are His,

  to live for God's dear Son.

                        ....... Wilbert D. Gough

LOOK TO THE LORD

Look to the Lord, in your trouble,

He can truly give your heart rest.

He looks to you and me, Ever-Present to be,

Trust Him, and all will be blessed.

Look to the Lord, in your suffering,

He has endured the pain that you bear.

He looks on you and me, our Physician to be,

To heal us - or our suffering to share.

Look to the Lord, in your sorrow,

God's sweet peace - let it never depart.

He looks to you and me, our Comforter to be,

His grace, binds the broken in heart.

Look to the Lord, even in your weakness,

For in His strength, you may o'ercome.

He looks on you and me, the Almighty to be,

As we pray - for God's will to be done.

....... Wilbert D. Gough

" God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear "

..... ( Psalm 46;1,2 )

We thank you for visiting, and pray that our blog may in some small way add to your relationship with Christ.

See Ya Soon !

Pastor Bill

A Broad Brush Remembrance of Pentecost

Dear Beloved,



I pray that today's brief post may touch your hearts in such a way that the Holy Spirit within us all is 'stirred', to reflect on the ancient roots of our Christian faith, and that it causes us to always remind ourselves of the significant essence of the Jewishness of our Savior Jesus Christ as flesh, at he design of our Creator ( father ABBA ). And ultimately the quest of our faith in becoming fulfilled with His graceful gift of the divine guidance of The Holy Spirit ! Righteous to us as born Again Believers as a result of the Calvary Love Sacrifice.



Many of my closest brothers and sisters, as well as my mentor/teachers are aware that in my conviction to always broaden my ministry efforts with deeper scriptural education. The past few months have been filled with studies of ancient Judaism, and Aramaic and Greek root word concentration to fortify and build on ancient scriptural understandings of Old Testament faith building blocks.

As one of my God blessed Jewish doctors described his Jewish description of Pentecost to me in a discussion about Pentecost,........... he conveyed that:



Bill, the holiday that occurs coincident to Pentecost is called 'Shavuot' by us Jews. The Talmud refers to Shavuot as 'Atzeret', ... ( a literal Hebrew word for ' refraining' or 'holding back' , referring to the ancient prohibition against work on this holiday and to the conclusion of the holiday and season of Passover,.

Hellenistic ( Greek ) Jews gave it the name of ' Pentecost ', meaning fiftieth day. Or, the 50th day of Passover.

According to Jewish tradition, Pentecost commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai 50 days after the Exodus. The 'Talmud' derives this from a calculation of biblical texts.

Most Jews faith involves the ancient understanding or belief that David was born and died on Pentecost. This may be why, in Peter's speech found in Acts 2, he explains the current happenings using David's tomb and some of his writings and quotes.



I personally find this to be good background insight as we team it with our gentile or Christian Pentecostal understandings.

Through my own studies on this topic, we understand that Pentecost commemorates the likened tongues of fire sent by God Himself while inscribing the understanding,will, and power of the promised wonderful counselor, comforter, and complete understanding of God's will for man to posses after the death and Ascension of Christ Jesus.

" Pentecost " a holiday that had been celebrated back 1500 years to Gods direct intercession in His personal gift of our Ten Commandments.  " Amazing Faith Fortification and sign of God's loving will for all His children to have opportunity to grow through Godly and Discerning Guidance!"



In closing, I seem to have found a strong,coherent, and concise 2 minute 'You-Tube' video put out by leading Messianic Jewish Rabbi K.A. Schneider from ' Discovering The Jewish Jesus '. I pray you find it to be helpful as we reflect on Pentecost, and grow closer to our Messianic Jewish Brothers and Sisters.

Please click on the short video ,..... and Shalom to All in His Holy Name.

Back to Basics !

Dear Brethren,

Having received nothing but positive feedback regarding an inter-church  Old Time Tent Revival,
we have initiated plans for this worship event for a TBD Fall 2015 date.

" Create in us a clean heart O God; and renew a steadfast heart within me. "

             Psalm  51:10

" You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of

your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. "

Psalm  16:11

A Christian brother of mine ( whom I met at a church fellowship initiative, through his light ), once made the comment to me that " churches should COMPLETE one another, rather than COMPETE with one another. "  What a simple yet observant statement this was. A statement which very much affected the overall mission initiative of our ministry.

Shouldn't the Christian Church act in coalition rather than competition ?,... Can this be done ?

Surely it can !!!  As long as we maintain a Godly perspective with the realization that as Jefferson Behtke puts it, and is the title of his excellent book,..... JESUS  > CHURCH  (Jesus is greater than the Church!)

Note:  Jefferson is a wonderful 'next generation' minister of Christ to whom I encourage my own children to watch. He has a wonderful You Tube channel easily found on the net.

So, whereas we are still in the infancy stage of this fellowship initiative, we encourage you to check back for developing details. Or, should you wish, you may always subscribe to our blogsite by scrolling down the homepage on the right side and do so. We welcome individuals, church leaders, and Pastors in southern Maine, and seacoast New Hampshire to contact us regarding interest and/or participation in the upcoming Back to Basics, Old Time Tent Revival via email (bill.bayliss@aol.com) or, a comment to our blog.

Meanwhile we humbly ask for your prayers that this multiple church event may REVIVE God's spirit that indwells every man's heart through the Love Sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

ERRORS and OMISSIONS

To ' err ' is human, to ' forgive ' is divine !,....... and to ' omit ' is my short term memory loss issue !

Dear Ones,

Within our blessing of the announced addition of Reverend Dr. Wilbert Gough in his ministry advisory role to sound doctrine, we neglected to present you with a link to Pastor Gough's website which contains a literal ' Treasure Trove ' of  discerning sermons selected from his many years of ministry.Pastor Wilbert D. Gough

I can say without reserve that all would be well served to visit this broad array of God Centered topical sermons. Pastor's breadth of experience serving the Lord throughout these United States as well as many ministry trips to The Holy Land will surely serve as a wonderful and enlightening addition to any Christian's desire to augment their ' God Centered Worldview ', and to strengthen 

their personal fellowship with Yeshua, ( Jesus ).

Please visit Pastor's website by clicking on the above Highlighted area of Pastor Wilbert D. Gough

Blessings in The Holy Name of Jesus

b 

He makes me want to be a better man !!!

Dearest Brethren, 

Blessings to you all in the Holy name of Christ Jesus. Now that our Ministry initiative is accelerating,
I am SO happy and blessed to share a couple of ministry announcements with you.

First, I would like to share with you the fact that we have finally compiled the Ordination and Licensing documentation along with our Ministry/Church Charter, required to file the 501 c non profit designation that has become necessary to partner with larger national and international ministries for co-venture Fellowship initiatives and events.

But very importantly, I am blessed to announce a key ministry advisory board designation. Whereas we will be shortly be adding additional board advisers, we feel strongly that an Adviser to Sound Scripture is of most vital importance.
So, without further ramblings, I feel very blessed to announce the name of Rev. Dr. Wilbert D. Gough, whom has graciously accepted this role to advise our ministry with sound God given scripture as it may pertain to our Fellowship Initiatives.

Rev. Dr. Wilbert D. Gough

I am very honored and blessed to have personally known Pastor Gough for some time now. I met Pastor Gough through a wonderful Bible Study group I've been a member of . This Bible Study group has been meeting in Christian Fellowship weekly for several years.

Although I cannot speak directly for the group of twenty something, I can say that I firmly believe that every one of us has very high regard and love for this Man of Christ. His biblical wisdom I have found to be surpassed by none, and importantly, his desire to share said wisdom is strong and cemented in his desire to serve our Lord and Savior.

On a personal level, Pastor Gough has been an invaluable Teacher and Mentor in my own journey to Ministry. Along those lines, Pastor guided me and honored me,... ( who said discipleship ? ) with a very endearing letter of recommendation for acceptance to Liberty University for ministry preparation . In a nutshell, my Christian love for this man of God is deep. He  without hesitation Makes me want to be a better man !

Pastor Gough is a published author, having written the most excellent book entitled " Life Isn't Fair-

But God Is ". This book is a wonderfully arranged compilation of the experience and sermons delivered over a 65 year commitment to God in the Pulpit. Which yes,.... makes him Ninety Something, but with the vitality surpassing most people I know. I have simply never known a man whom is more committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Pastor has a doctorate from Eastern Baptist Seminary as well as graduate degrees from Temple University School of Theology and Burton Theological Seminary. He has served churches throughout

the United States and has written and publicly spoken extensively .

We are quite looking forward to tapping on his guidance for our upcoming " Back to Basics, Old Time Tent Revival ". I am quite sure that pastor's experience and insight ( including Revivals and Crusades with Billy Graham ), will prove to be invaluable to our goal of bringing both Christians and non-Christians closer to God our Father.

We thank Pastor Gough from the bottom of our hearts. May his guidance to our ministry prove to be a Blessing to each and every one of you.

God Bless You, and please feel free to visit our blog often as we off n' running with the development of Fellowship initiatives in the Name of Jesus!

Listening for God

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

" Today is the day the Lord gave us , I was glad in it, and graceful for it. "

My prayer is that today you experienced the goodness an happiness of life in Christ Jesus!

   * ( NOTE ) ,.... Having re-read my last post, I had to come to the conclusion that with my ability to coherently and concisely convey a message, it works out alot better if you don't omit words.

This error has been corrected, and I hope you may have time to re-read it. ( as it relates so strongly to today's post ). I believe you may find it worth the time. God Bless!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In speaking with so many devoted Christians, Mentor Pastors, and Teachers, it seems to be a common agreement that as individual our own paths might be to us, so are the varied ways we as growing followers hear from or listen for God our Father.

As for me, I have for some time now started my mornings rather early. It's what I affectionately refer to as my 'GOD TIME' !

When the sun rises, the birds start chirping, when they chirp ,....they in turn wake up my cats,.... whom affectionately wake ME up,.................' Feed Me Now! '
But that's OK as this is the quiet time I use to feed my soul. I begin each day be either opening The Bible , or, with these days of social media outlets, I can find Bible based messages through following a few of my favorite 'scriptural sound' Ministries who post to You Tube ( as we plan to do in short order ).
This early AM quiet " God Time " as I call it is when alone with Him I can 'listen ', with discerning ears. What I find more times than coincidence could ever be, is that what He has to tell me directly,.... ' I Mean DIRECTLY ' correlates to a specific and current issue I am facing as I journey with Christ. 
When we give the Word of God space to live in our hearts, the Spirit of God will use it to take root, penetrating the recesses of our minds and hearts. Etching a message on our hearts that will allow us to keep God at the center daily happenings.
So, getting back to my daily God Time so often giving me or BLESSING me with Godly insight to a current concern, an almost exact example would be the below video from In Touch Ministries.
Just this morning I came across this video ! And it was telling that the Lord brought this before me just at the RIGHT time!  I listened to this God Given message, and what do ya know, .......... it seemed like a virtual re-interpretation of yesterday's posting. Very distinctly telling me that I need to KEEP LISTENING, and that I'm on the right track or the right path. How glorious it is to receive what you consider as approval from the Lord God !  What a feeling ! similar to the approval a Son seeks from his earthly Father, a feeling that drives me to listen to Him and look for Him in all things.

I Implore you to please re-read the last post, and then to watch the attached video.,

Related Scripture : " God will instruct me and teach me in the way I should go. "
                                                                         .....Psalm 32:8

                                " Call to Me, I will answer you and show you great and mighty things,
                                   which you do not know. "
                                                                         ....Jeremiah 33:3

Choose to be alert in the heart of God as you spend time in The Word of God.  ........Listen !!!

 * If you feel compelled, please feel free to leave a comment. Anonymously so is fine, but so many people benefit from the personal testimonies of how God is working in our lives. As we share our stories we can edify eachother in the Fathers desire to have us Fellowship with eachother, build eachother up in the name and way of our loving Messiah.

I am excited to hear your thoughts on the synergy between the last post, and the words and video in this post.

* Please check back tomorrow for details on our upcoming plans for an 'old time - tent revival', which will be conducted by our local church 'elder fellowship', " Melded Elders ", which will be made up of Elders from local Churches. The mission of this particular Fellowship initiative is in the realization of the fact that " Churches should complete one another, rather than compete with one another " in our effort to more completely magnify the amazing grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and more effectively carry out The Great Commission, to together spread The Good News of  life in Christ Jesus.

Good Night All, and may The Father Bless You with the stirring of The Holy Spirit within.
bill                               

By The Grace of God !

Welcome Back Beloved !!!

As most of you are aware, I have been on a Doctor directed ' Medical Sabbatical  ',  while I received rather aggressive medical treatments and adjusted to cutting edge medical protocol. 
I am happy to tell you that this 'season' of my journey has afforded me the God sent Blessing of the ability to manage the significant and unpredictable health afflictions that were managing me, rather than I managing it!   ( once again, it is evident that I've been Again be Saved by the Grace of God ).
Am I cured of the complex combination of my ailments?,.....No,.....or, I should say ' Not Yet '. 
He has yet again shown me that He will only give what I can bear, and that heartfelt faith in Him is most certainly our sufficiency.

Throughout my own journey I have on so many occasions  turned to Holy Scripture for guidance, understanding, and the strength to endure. Yesterday I came across Psalm 40, to once again find synergy and Godly understanding of my journey.
The Psalm recounts God's complete faithfulness when David cried out for His help. ' I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and mire. ' ........( in my own case, a pit of  significant disease and quickly failing health )  ..... Praise be to God !

Whether this Psalm refers to an actual 'pit' or to humanly devastating and challenging circumstances, David knew that he could always count on  the LORD our GOD for deliverance.
( Again pointing out the fact that HE IS OUR SUFFICIENCY !

God never actually says 'NO'  to prayers for healing. He either says ' YES ' or  ' NOT YET '.
Indeed Even to the faithful, born again, God fearing, Christian  living in Christ, the ' NOT YET ' answer may indeed not become the ' YET ' we pray for until our earthly bodies fail us. BUT, 
as convicted Christians, we fully know that at that point ( Thanks to the love sacrifice of Messiah )
we are righteous to an eternity with our Father and Creator where sickness, corruption, and a myriad of  other earthly diversities no longer exist. Additionally we are in full awareness that
' ALL ' of God's plans are for good.

" And we know that in ALL things, God works for the good of those who love Him "

..... Romans 8:28

Recently, and perhaps a good hypothetical example would be the affliction of cancer in a 7 year old child of God from one of our local churches. So many heartfelt prayers, so many tears.

My wife Donna and I sent a prayer to a young Jewish boy from Israel whom accepts such prayers to insert them into the crevasses of Jerusalem's Western Wall in the Holy Land,  (what s dedicated young man with the fortitude and understanding that each of us can carry out ministry in our own ways) Many of  our wonderful prayer group prayed in earnest with Godly loving kindness,

but the ' NOT YET ' prevailed and after several weeks of treatment and hospitalization, The Lord called him Home to the eternal happiness promised us.

We all indeed had a difficult time trying to decipher why the ' NOT YET '  was delayed until he was united with The Father. How did this young boy's challenge work out for good as scripturally promised?

First and very importantly, we realized it is not always for us to know every reason God besets some of us with these diversities. ( His ways,thoughts,plans, and level of understanding are so very much higher than ours ). What is important is that we have complete faith in God's plans. 

But in this case, who knows ?, ... ( I mean,....other than Him ), perhaps there was a young med student doctor whom worked on the case who along their own journey may extrapolate their experience with the case if this small child of God, and some day apply it to a cure for cancer.

Hmmmm, ... could be, and perhaps not. Again, only the Father knows. We must have unbridled Faith in the ways, words, and plans of our Creator.

Personally, I have come to realize that so very often, God works through other people. ( Who said FELLOWSHIP ? ) But, in my case, I had to patiently wait ( 5 yrs. of 100+ per yr. hospital days, Infusion therapy galore ( a special thank you to the caring people at York Oncology) , surgeries, toxins, and a plethora of fun stuff!,  but in God's divine and pre-destined plan, my path had to cross that of  the correct pre-determined combination of patient centered, empathetic, and skilled medical professionals whom could tame disease and manage other incurable disease. An intersection of paths

that affords me an immensely improved quality of life.

I tell you from the heart that I truly believe that I AM the healthiest sick man, and the richest poor man than I could EVER hope !

I have all I need in a life of serving Christ,..I pray the same feeling for all.

I will forever consider these outstanding empathetic and ' patient  first ' Doctors as ' Vessels of Christ ', as I fully understand this Blessing from God came through their own individual Blessings from God, at the discretion of God !!!

Furthermore I've come to realize that the time patiently waiting and struggles as nothing short of a Blessing ( or even miracle ! ) in itself . As this situation has only further cemented my feet in Words and ways that steep my Faith in our merciful and loving God.

To the many of you,...my Brothers and Sisters in Christ. whom have prayed for me, given me rides and even sat with me through the lengthy infusions at the oncology clinic,... I can only Thank You

for your love and help. You have shown me the paramount importance of how a Christian Family

can so positively affect our journeys. It has all contributed to not simply becoming healthier, but to the fact that I can now accelerate my God-Given assignment to spread our ministry of Christian Fellowship.

I so look forward to working with all of you toward growing the Christian Fellowship initiatives that will add to our growth in Christ, and demonstrate how Christians in like-believing Churches Must Complete One-Another,  Rather Than Compete With One-Another.

In closing, ( You're Welocome!,.. i tend to run on 1 ) haha........  I again offer Thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior as well as to all of you. May you be Blessed with The Joy of Jesus. Please know that you all make me want to be a better man, and contribute to my personal covenant and desire to serve our Lord and Savior for my remaining days. ( WHY ? ) do I choose to serve Him for me remaining days ?

Not because I feel I need to ( although I do ), But because doing so provides me the fullest happiness I've ever known !  My desire is to spread this infectious disease that provides what I refer to as THE JOY OF JESUS.

Please check back Sunday for many updates including new Fellowship initiatives, Ministry Advisory Board announcements and more.

May You All Be Blessed With Shalom of Jesus !