In writing this blog each week I had planned on releasing a book based on these writings. This reminds me of a great novel I once read called “Of Mice and Men” a great book written by John Steinbeck in 1937. A novel based on the best laid schemes of mice and men which go awry. We plan and scheme in life as to what are going to do but God always has a say in the matter. 1 Corinthians 4:19 “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.” We never know what will happen and when it will happen in our lives. The Apostle Paul would write to the cities he would visit and there were times he planned to make a trip and he would get detained. He learned to write if the Lord permits. 
We too must practice this as we don’t know what tomorrow will bring for any of us. I may plan many things in this life but if God doesn’t allow it won’t come to past.  
The story, “Of Mice and Men” is representative of a time in the 1920′s when two men had a great relationship, friendship without it being about anything other than that. These two characters Lennie and George dreamed of a life on a farm as ranch hands earning enough money to someday, as soon as they managed to save enough money, they will buy a farm together and, as Lennie puts it, “live off the fatta the lan’.” They will grow their own food, raise livestock, and keep rabbits, which Lennie will tend. This familiar story cheers both of them up. As happens in life things didn’t go as they planned. How many times in our lives things didn’t go as we planned them? I have learned that nothing works the way I plan it. Especially in the Kingdom of God! My choice of how things will tend to go does not go that way often. Just as with Lennie and George things have a way of going awry, plans for us don’t seem to line up just as we planned it. 
In the end the story of Lennie and George ended in tragedy with Lennie dreaming of that beautiful place the farm they had planned to buy together. George being humane shot Lennie in the back of the head in order to save him from his fate of being hung. This story is typical of how the plans we make can often be deceptive. Only what we  do for Christ will make a difference.
We are headed for another new year 2012. Many of us have big plans for this new year. Don’t be surprised if those plans change out of necessity. God wants you and I to seek his counsel with where we are going in this life of ours. Today as we embark on our journey, take heart the road ahead is not what it seems. There are some bumps and curves ahead.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

I love to read the comics each day. In the funny pages you see real life drawn about. From time to time I will clip a comic out and give it to my wife. This particular comic strip will remind me of how my girls act sometimes. It’s true that life imitates the arts. We see television shows that remind us of situations we go through. Only when we deal with things, it’s not so funny. But it should be! If we could lighten up and realize it’s never as serious as we make it out to be. When we look back on that situation we have a tendency to look back with laughter. It’s funny after the fact but it is never so funny when are in that situation. But, we make more out of it than we should.
Things have a way of working out. How many times have you or I had something that we were facing and that thing seemed so overwhelming that you didn’t want to face it, yet it came and it was no big deal. Most of the time we make more out of our situations than we ought. God surely takes care of us continually. That is a large part of the reason he says in Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life,” When our bank account runs low and it seems as if there is not enough to pay our bills panic seems to hit us. If we could be like Beetle Bailey and not have a care in the world. 
This is the way God intended us to live. When he created man in the beginning he gave him everything he needed without any cares. Because Adam sinned we took on things God never intended us to suffer. As a child of God we must get back to that place of the garden existence where we allow our heavenly Father to care for us. Now I am aware of the time of year where we stress out with shopping and spending for Christmas. But we must be at peace for he is the reason for the season. And he is the Prince of Peace! 
One of my favorite television shows of all time is “Seinfield” a show about nothing. Where they made fun of everyday things that happen. If they were to write a show based on your life would it be about all the stress you live with daily or the joy of waking up each day and facing some great and interesting challenges? 
Today is a new day! It’s like no other day we’ve ever lived before. We must face today and live our life as we face new and exciting challenges today. We are about to embark on another new year. It is a year that none of us have faced before. We must enter this new year with a different mindset than this past year. If we could go into this year facing each day as life in the funny pages  where our care is not in life itself but the life we have in Christ. It’s a new day! 

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ. 

I was talking with a fellow pastor, a friend last week. We were speaking with one another concerning the trend we both have noticed. There seems to be in almost every church an unsettleness in people. They can’t seem to be happy or satisfied in the church they attend. This got me to research the word of God were I found were Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3,4 “For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.” (NET) 
Upon reading this text I began to think about how so many people are not planted in any church but they go from one place to another. When we read the word of God and see these things it seems strange when we they start to happen. Yet it has been written about over 2000 years ago. When we planted the church in Laveen two years ago I never imagined what we would encounter. God has blessed us to have some great relationships with those we pastor. Yet along the way there have been those who came into our lives briefly and moved on elsewhere. I cannot help but to wonder why there is this unsettleness in people. I for one grew up in a church from the time I was a child until I was a young adult about 21 years of age. In that time there was very little movement of people from one church to another. Loyalty is a rare quality today. We have examples of not staying in jobs, sports, churches, etc…. It’s not like it once was where you went to one store, stayed banking at one bank, and your children attended one school. 
Our society is so transient today in everything. So it’s no wonder it’s that way in the church. As I write this I myself have gone through a lot of transition in my own life in the last few years. This is the fabric of the world we live in today. Everything must change nothing stays the same. This is the one reason we must learn the term  ”flexibility.” We must be flexible in everything we do or we will break. I had a tie pin that I was wearing that was crooked. I tried to straighten it out but when I pulled it to one side it broke. There was no flexibility in that pin. We are much the same, when we are off course and a pastor or leader will try to help us by nudging us back on course we break. Which leads us back to 2 Timothy 4 where Paul talks about people will not be able to tolerate sound teaching. The inability to be flexible causes so many to leave churches today. We disagree with one or two things and we’re out of there! We can learn to be flexible so that when things happen we can bend but not break. 

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

A week or two ago I went to visit my uncle who is my dad’s brother in a convalescence home. He has dementia, upon arriving to see him I expected to talk with him about the past and how he was doing presently. I wasn’t prepared for what I encountered, he did not know who I was and couldn’t carry on any type of conversation whatsoever. He is 78 years old yet he looked as if he was 98 years of age. He was confined to a wheelchair and in a lot of pain from his arthritic hip. I was shocked to see him like this. I immediately remembered the man I knew for so much of my life as being a successful business owner, who was strong and worked hard his entire life. Who also partied heavily as well. Seeing him like this reminded me of the passage of scripture in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” My uncle didn’t come to serve God until much later in his life. He like so many others wasted his years in the world. At some point we all get older, (if we live long enough) we all hope that we will age gracefully. There are times we wither away slowly. While we have the strength and clarity of our minds we must serve God to the best of our abilities. Doing what he has instructed us to do. I had lunch with my spiritual father last week. He was telling me that he doesn’t do what he once did in ministry but he still ministers the gospel. He said, “we can’t go back and recapture the past it is gone we must live in the here and now.” Those were words of wisdom. Today is the day we must be about our Father’s business, yesterday is gone we can look back and reminisce where we came from, but we can’t dwell on the good ole days. I hated seeing the man I love in that state but such is life sometimes. My task is to do what I know God is telling me to do while I still can. Today we must make history for tomorrow. Yesterday is in the past, today is the day we live in! 

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

Last week I was picking my wife up from work when I was told by the parking attendant that there was a large puddle of what looked like oil under our van. As I was leaving I looked under the hood where I saw some leaking of fluid. Not knowing where it was coming from I called my buddy at the dealership where we take our van to be serviced. I told him I would need to bring it in immediately. As we drove to the shop the engine light came on and it started smoking so we got off the freeway pulled into a Quikstop parking area where the vehicle had leaked most of what turned out to be transmission fluid on the ground where we had parked. I called my friend and he stated that he would have the vehicle picked up and brought to the dealership and that he would pick us up. Of course my mind immediately went to the worst scenario which was the engine had run out of oil and seized up. Or the transmission was gone. All of these options costing thousands of dollars. As I wrote a month or two ago my wife had been rear ended and pushed into another vehicle and we had gotten it fixed. My service advisor friend said this may be a result of the accident, that there might have been more damage. Now this was three days before Thanksgiving and the same day I had published my blog on being thankful. I am reminded of the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God concerning you.”
When my van was fixed it turned out that there was a transmission hose that had a large hole in it which caused all the fluid to drain from the car. The cost was zero, Praise God! God is always blessing us even the things we consider small. That in our case was a huge blessing as we were not in a position at that point to spend on a new engine or transmission. God knows exactly where we are and as such blesses us with what we need. I can never understand nor figure out why things happen to us but God on the other hand is always faithful. My life for the last two years have not been easy since we stepped on our own with the church. I’ve seen God do some miraculous things in that time. There were many times I felt I couldn’t go on, but it has been in those times that he has continued to see us through. I don’t know what tomorrow may bring but I know each day he is with us and is providing our daily bread. The Disciples asked Jesus to teach us to pray. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)
As we take each day we must remember to pray as he taught us to pray. Being thankful for everything he does each day in our lives.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

We come to the time of year once again where we celebrate another Thanksgiving day. We gather with family and friends and eat turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie. We watch football and eat to much. It’s a great time of year. But we have thanksgiving day every single of our lives. God has blessed us with so much. We have life, health and strength in our bodies. We wake up each day in our right minds and we have food and clothes to wear. We are so blessed to live in the United States of America. There are so many people in this world who don’t have a place to live or clothes to wear. They don’t get regular meals to eat. Take a place like Haiti for example, there are so many people living there who don’t have the basic necessities of life yet they are thankful. When we look at where we are in life we have so much to be thankful for. God loves us so much that he provides everything we have need of. I am thankful for my wife and my children and the church he has allowed me to shepherd. In addition God has blessed me with a home to live in as well as provision. Thanksgiving is about the goodness of our God and all he continues to do for us. 
What if God didn’t provide anything else for us? Would he still be worthy of thanks and praise? What if he did not meet our needs as he says in Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory; by Christ Jesus.” We live in the greatest country in the world. A land of opportunity for all. There was a time in America where not all people were treated the same. But so much has changed where we all have equal chance to prosper. Yes we have much to thank and praise God for. 
As Americans we enjoy the freedom to choose! Our choices can lead us down the road of bad decisions. It is those choices that get us in trouble and we expect God to get us out of that trouble. Thank God he never gives up on and he never leaves us. David said in Psalm 37:25 “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” God loves us and cares about all that we go thought even if it’s of our own making. He may allow us to deal with that thing a lot longer than we desire but his love allows us to go through because he is building endurance in us. So have so much to be thankful for today and everyday.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

More and more I’m understanding that my words have power! As some of you may or may not know I run a promotional products business this past week I received a sizable order that had multiple designs of which I called a nightmare. Well as you can guess it became just that. I received a call from one of members of our church who was just going through it. She felt that she was under attack as she’d been cut back on her hours at work, her car had broken down and she had her purse stolen from her car. She said I’m having a bad day and I need prayer.” The bible tells us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We forget to do this each day and when things happen we accept it and and say, “I’m just having a bad day!” we must live by the word of God and things will work out. When we say things that are contrary to the word of God we will get those things. OUR WORDS HAVE POWER! We create with what we speak. In Genesis God created with words the entire world and mankind. We being like him create with our words. Have you ever noticed when you say, “I’m broke” you are broke? Or “I think I’m getting sick” you feel really sick? I’ve done the opposite when I start feeling sick I’ll say, “I’m healed in the name of Jesus.” That sickness dissipates. I stopped saying I’m broke, and started saying my Father is rich and i’m his child therefore I’m rich.
It’s our choice as to whether we will stand on the word or not. As we read, hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word of God is active. It has to power to be activated in our lives. Just as the negative words we speak will come about. We must be careful of what we say. Last week I encouraged you to be careful not to speak anything negative against God’s people in the same we must be careful what we say concerning ourselves. If we could get negativity out of our vocabulary and our thoughts we can be children of God. If we want to change our vernacular we must get the word of God in us. We must as Proverbs 7:3 “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.” As we write the word in our hearts we will change how we think and say. David said in Psalm 119:11-12 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.” I must hide his word in my heart then I will live as he commands me to live, and say what he wants me to say. Today be careful what comes out of your mouth. Speak only words that will edify and uplift!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

David would not kill Saul, even though he had every opportunity to do so. “So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there Saul lay sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the army lay round about him.  Then said Abishai to David, God has given your enemy into your hands this day. Now therefore let me smite him to the earth at once with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.  David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him; for who can raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” (1 Samuel 26:7-9 AMP) David feared God more than man. He wouldn’t put his hands on the man that was in the office. David had a reverence for the office no matter what Saul did he was still the king until he was removed by God. What if we thought along those lines? If we honored the office that God has put before us. Whether it be the President, governor, pastor etc… We must honor the office more than the man or woman.
1 Chronicles 16:22 “He allowed no man to do them wrong; yes, He reproved kings for their sakes, Saying, Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.” David would let no one come against the man of God. God has dealt with me about this very thing to be careful of what I say about other men of God. Even if I don’t agree with what they are doing in their ministry it is not my concern! My concern is what God has called me to do. I must pray for my brothers and sisters. So many of us are putting our mouths on God’s ministers saying they are not in the will of God, when frankly we don’t know the will of God for them. We must know the will of God for our own selves. Someone asked me last week what wisdom I can share as I’ve gotten older. I responded, “The older I get the more I realize I need to mind my own business.” in other words I must be about my Father’s business and not involved in your business. Especially if you haven’t invited me in. We are so good at solving everyone else’s issues when we need to mind our own.
There has been a lot of comments made about a pastor in Texas who leads a large church, how when asked he won’t take a strong position against certain things. Whether you agree with what he says or not we must pray for him and say, “that is between he and God”. God has not given me the right to judge him but to pray for him. We form opinions about this man of God and we don’t even know him or what God has spoken to him. I must not touch God’s anointed as David did with Saul I must allow God to work in his/her life. As a man I know I fail! I need prayer just like those I’ve criticized in the past. As a pastor I really need prayer for God’s direction for his people. Please allow the word of God to govern you not the popularity of opinion. Let’s start praying today and keeping our opinions to ourselves. Whether it be the President of the United States or a popular Pastor we must pray for them that God will direct their paths as he directs ours. It is so easy to make a judgment in the case of the president that we don’t like the decisions he makes. He has intelligence that is not available to us in making his decisions. In the same vain we are critical of certain pastors for how they lead their churches not knowing what God has spoken to them. Just as when Noah was told to build an ark. Everyone thought he was nuts, yet he heard God speak to him. I encourage you today stop speaking against the leaders, start praying for them! They may seem nuts or they may not lead the way you think they should so pray!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

The importance of writing it down! While speaking with a friend this week we were discussing this subject. Dr. Edwin Cole the founder of “Real Men’s Ministry” tells us to write it down. Proverbs 7:2-3 “Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.” (NIV) I must write the word down to retain that word. Unless I refer to a scripture continually it’s hard to have total recall of every verse in the bible.
When I speak on what God gives me on a Sunday morning or a Thursday evening bible study I noticed there are those who take notes and those who don’t. We can’t retain everything we hear so we must write it down to remember it. How many times have you asked, “How was church today? What was the sermon about?” They reply, “Church was great, I don’t know what the word was about but it was great.” Because our finite minds have the capacity to remember only so much. We forget much more than we remember. You can blame it on age or bad memory or whatever, the fact remains we can keep so much in our memory banks before we overload.
My wife bought me one of those electronic gadgets the IPad a year ago. I’ve come to rely on it for I use it for notes and sermons etc… I have taken the burden off my mind, for I’ve found it a very useful tool. How many times have we received a word from God through someone and we can’t remember everything that was said? We must write things like this down and we will be able to look back on that word and see how much has come about from it.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Exodus 34:27 NIV) If you don’t write what God says to you there is no way of delivering that word. Had I not written down the vision God gave me two years ago I wouldn’t have remembered all he said. When I write things down I’m more accountable and committed to that thing. Write it down!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ

This week I started thinking about our need versus God’s supply. God is good to us we have very few needs that he hasn’t met. So many times we get our needs and our wants mixed up. He supplies all our needs he may or may not give us our wants. In about a week I will be privileged to have had another birthday. My wife asked me a question the other day she said, “I want you to think about this question before you just answer” she asked, “what do you want for your birthday?” I replied, “I don’t want anything for I am blessed with all my wants in that God has blessed me with a great and loving family and a wonderful church, of which I’m blessed to pastor. I don’t need material possessions to be blessed. We have a home to live in and cars for transportation. Food, clothing etc… We are rich as Americans! I once had a good friend who came to America from the island of Haiti where he was born. Because of a tumor growing in his mouth his dad gave him up to an adoption agency to save his life. They sent him to America where he got the help he needed. He would always say that he was rich. He didn’t have a lot of money yet he was rich, in that God blessed him with a wonderful family and provided his needs. I too am rich! I am blessed! I may not have all the money I’d like to have but God is faithful to us. I read in Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Contentment is something we should strive for. instead of our continual desires of more and more.
Being content where we are is very difficult living a materialistic world. Everything around us pushes us to attain more and more. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 19:29-30 “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” When we give up all he will give us all. As I look to celebrate another year of life I give up my life so that I might gain life.
1 Timothy 6:6-8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” This is the word God gave me to speak on though God directed us a different way this past Sunday. He gave me three ways to tap into his supply. When we are obedient to God he will supply our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Today be content with where you are and seek him with all your heart and he will meet your need. God cannot lie he will do as he says! David said in Psalm 37 “I’ve been young and now old, but I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken; nor his seed beg bread.”

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ