I don't recall knowing where they came from; those tiny toy cars I pushed around the narrow streets of my little make believe village. In the welcome shade of an old orange tree in our back yard the sand was cool and damp after the daily rain and could easily be fashioned into avenues, tunnels, houses and walls.  There were always plenty of weeds to use for trees and shrubs in my imaginary hamlets. And cars...lots of cars; well, at least five or six.

In my child's mind it never occurred to me to wonder how a poor family had managed to acquire such treasures.  Were they premiums in some product purchased for the home? Had a kind relative passed them on to me when their own little boy had outgrown them? Perhaps a good week financially had coincided with a birthday. Oh; and what happened to them when childhood's days were done? I have no answers to any of these questions I might pose as an adult. I just cherish the memories of those wonderful hours of make believe in the luscious shade of that old orange tree. 

Reliving childhood's idyllic times makes one wonder: What about today's blessings? Where did they come from? Who provided them? How can they be preserved for tomorrow? Should they be passed along to the next generation?

The mature believer has likely come to the accurate conclusion that, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." (James 1:17) One can only hope that our awareness of our Source will lead to a better appreciation of what we have and a willingness to preserve and share it. 

Stewards all,

Pastor Rich Orrell

Honor to whom Honor is due

This week we honor those who have gone   before and are no longer with us.

Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor them for the lives they lived and what they meant to us.

We also honor our Veterans that have given their lives to provide us with our freedom.

Take time this week to thank the Lord for a wonderful church and church family.  We are so blessed beyond measure.

Thank the Lord also for those who have given us our Spiritual heritage:  pastors, teachers, parents and other role models.  We owe a debt of gratitude to many on this special day of remembrance.

Lastly, thank the Lord that you live in      America, the greatest country on earth.

Thank you,  Jesus, for Your many blessings.

Happy Memorial Day,

Pastor Phil      

The ink was still not quite dry on my college degree as I launched into my first pastorate. Wishing to be faithful to preach all the Gospel, I felt I should preach a message on healing. I worked Psalm 103:1-5, Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 9:20-22 into the smooth flow of my treatise on the doctrine of healing. Triumphantly, I closed with the declaration of the unchanging nature of God revealed to us in the life of Christ. Hebrews 13:8 rolled so easily from my lips as I thundered what my head and my heart knew to be the truth: "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, and today, and forever!"

In my naïveté I spoke into the expectant hush that followed, "If anyone would like prayer for your healing, just come forward."

I was expecting headaches and arthritis to be the healing needs as a few came to the front of the church. Imagine my shock when the first lady in line asked me to pray that God would heal her of a large tumor in her reproductive system.

In the blink of an eye we had moved from the theoretical to the practical. It would either be gone following prayer or it would still be there. 

Simply following the instructions from James 5:14&15, I put a small spot of olive oil on her forehead and prayed a quiet prayer asking God to heal her. She returned to her seat with no fanfare and said nothing to me as she and her husband left the building. 

The following Sunday they were back. She asked to say something and shared how amazed her doctor was to discover that the tumor was no longer palpable. He suggested a D&C rather than the scheduled surgery.  There was nothing there. In response to the preaching of the Word and obedient prayer, God had stepped in and healed her. 

If you need a healing, study what God's Word says about the subject. Pursue your healing through the many means available to us today. Prayer, Doctors, nutrition, technology...if we ever recover from any disease, God certainly has something to do with that recovery. 

Believing for your miracle!

Pastor Richard Orrell

Stop living in the past

Jerimiah 29:11  NLT

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and  not  for  disaster,  to  give you a future and a hope.”

OK—enough is enough!   This scripture promises God’s perfect plan for our lives.   He has forgiven us for our past, so let’s quit revisiting our past hurts and mistakes.

Let’s purpose to begin TODAY to stop looking in the rear view mirror, I’ve never seen a hearse pull a U-Haul trailer.  Let the past go, it cannot be changed. To have God’s best we need to forgive and forget those hurts and those who hurt us, move forward, forgetting what is in the past, strive toward the mark God has set for our future!

Thank Him today for the great future He has  in store for us.   

Love ya, Pastor Phil      

As a twelve year old I did not aspire to do much of anything in the little church where we worshipped. I was supremely content to listen to others play an instrument or sing a special. And I certainly was not yearning for the chance to lead a song service.

I recall as though it were yesterday the terror that swept over me when Mother volunteered me to lead in the absence of the older gentleman who usually waved his hands vaguely in the air while lustily singing some selection from the hymnal.

I was assured his duties consisted largely of announcing the number of the song and getting everyone started at the right time. As Mom was the pianist and music was such an integral part of our home life I decided to attempt what seemed an impossibility.

Sure enough; with a bit of private coaching on the proper pattern for waving one's arms while singing, plus a bit of head nodding and significant glances from the piano bench, I made it through my debut as a church song leader.

No doubt it was clumsy and rough. I'm certain an accomplished worship leader might have been justifiably critical of my style and technique. But as is so often the case in our youth, Mother served to push me into something I might never have tried left to my own devices.

Special appreciation to our Moms for the foundations they laid as we grew under their supervision!

Pastor Orrell

Lord-I’m So Thankful

1 Chronicles 16:34 NLT

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. “

This week, with the storms approaching I was grumbling to myself about my aching joints.

Then I was out-and-about and opened the door for a Vietnam Vet and his grandkids.   He had two artificial arms and one artificial leg.   He had a big smile on his face and was  enjoying time with the grandkids.   He had chosen to be happy and enjoy the moment with his grandkids, in spite of his physical condition.

When I got into my car—this scripture came to me.    We need to always count our blessings.  There are always those who have it much worse than we do.    I asked the Lord to forgive me for not counting my blessings - I have so much to be thankful for!

So I quit grumbling internally about my discomfort and thanked the Lord that I have two arms and legs.  God is so good to me!

Let's remember to thank Him for what we HAVE today!

Love ya,  Pastor Phil      

Pressing toward the goal

Philippians 3:13-15  (NLT)

^13 “Forgetting the past and looking     forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Alright, we’ve just had a great revival, hope you availed yourself of the opportunity to  attend.  It is great to be rejuvenated  in spirit, but the lasting effect is what is important.

Did we actually allow the Lord to make a change in our lives?  

The proof is in the   pudding, we must align our lives with the new goals the Lord has placed before us, and  CHANGE to be what He wants us to be.

Begin today, Join me to worship Him with  complete abandon, not concerned about those around us.

Let’s just close ourselves in with God and Worship HIM, for He alone is worthy.

Love ya,  Pastor Phil      

Distracted; that's what his problem was.  He knew his Mom had some logical reason for insisting he start home at a certain time. From his lofty perch of eight years of living he could recite the usual reasons given a little boy in those days...the most compelling being, "because I said so". 

Hide and seek with the neighbor's children became easier as evening wore on and darkness crept through the pines.  In horror he recognized the daunting truth; there was not sufficient time for him to make it home before dark. 

After a hurried thank you to the lady of the house he gathered his courage and began the long trek to the security of home. It was only a quarter mile but seemed much longer to his child's mind.

Remembering the recent rattler photos taken along this very same stretch of country road, he picked up the pace and began running through the encroaching gloom. 

"Wait! What's that piled up in the road?"

His active imagination filled in all the blanks as he "saw" the huge head of the serpent atop the threatening coils of an Eastern Diamondback lurking in his path. It was too dark to return to the safety of the neighbor's home. Daddy would be coming this way soon on his way home from work but he didn't want to explain why he wasn't already home. 

In an early attempt to master fear he sidled as close to the edge of the road as he dared. In his mad sprint past the sullen beast coiled in the road he got a close-up glimpse of the monster's head. What had absolutely terrified him was just a pile of Spanish moss recently fallen from one of the towering pines sighing in the ample breeze overhead. The darkness had disguised the identity of the moss and his busy little brain had done the rest. 

There are some pretty good life lessons in this true story: 

1. Pay attention to the authority figures God puts in your life.

2. Don't allow yourself to be so entertained that you ignore looming deadlines.

3. Some of the things we fear the most turn out to be nothing.

4. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You'll make it!

5. Don't forget where home is.

If you're looking for a place where you recognize the hymns and don't need ear plugs to protect you from the sound, you just might want to come home to Battlefield Assembly of God. 

See you Sunday!

Pastor Richard Orrell

Let’s live in Christ’s Freedom

2 Corinthians 3:17 (NLT)

^17 “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter.  HE rose triumphant, and paid the price for our freedom.

His challenge to us is to accept that freedom in Christ and not let anyone bind us with legalism and guilt.   We are NOT defeated but we ARE overcomers through Christ Jesus.

HE paid the price for our sin, we could not pay it.  "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe" - - -

Accept your freedom in Jesus today my friend, don’t let the enemy or anyone’s  legalism take away your Joy and Freedom, GLORIUS FREEDOM.

Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!

Love ya,   Pastor Phil      

Rich Reflections

Barely old enough to have graduated high school, she already bore marks of maturity far beyond her years. Long hours each day hammering out the ka-ching of the cash register at a major food store had etched a patina of bored professionalism into the smoothness of her young face. Had anyone paid attention on this particular day they would have noticed that her eyes, normally tightly focused on the next item to be rung up, darted with regularity to the clock on the far wall. She could hardly contain her excitement as lunchtime approached.

It was only a few blocks down the street through the springtime heat and humidity of central Florida to the department store where her treasures awaited. With a spring in her step born of joy and the need to be back at work in her allotted thirty minutes, she cast her apron aside and hurried past the garden tools and perfume counter to the clothing side of the store.

The scrap of paper with all the proper measurements scribbled the night before was in her hand as she confidently requested the help of the attendant in finding the right outfit. After all, it was Easter and everybody would be wearing their very best in Sunday’s services at the little church near the center of town.

That is, everybody except her. You see, the Easter clothes for which she was spending her hard earned cash were not for her. They were for her little brother. She had noticed that with the hard times the family was going through, he would have only his usual jeans and tee shirt in which to celebrate the resurrection. Oh, they were clean. No one would say anything. It was just that others would look so nice and fresh while someone she loved was just another little boy.

It was many years before he grasped the significance of the little brown suit he wore that day. The sharply creased pants and nicely shined shoes were appreciated but were quickly eclipsed by the excitement of the Easter egg hunt and dinner on the grounds.

I wish I could remember what my sister wore that Easter. I’m sure it was clean and looked nice. But I’m also quite certain it was last year’s outfit…at least.

As an adult, I have come to appreciate deeply the kindness of that one act at Easter time so long ago. I have also come to be more and more thankful for God’s ultimate act of love when He gave His only begotten Son to die on an old rugged cross so that we can be saved.

Hopefully we will each be motivated to accept His love and to mirror it in our daily lives.

Happy Easter!

He is RISEN!

Christian love,

Pastor Richard Orrell