For the Love of Jesus

Joshua 3:14-16 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam…

Each week the members attending our church come to be ministered to, come to hear the Word of the Lord spoken into their ears. Each week a few of those members work behind the scenes to facilitate the fellowship and create an atmosphere of love and acceptance. And each week the Holy Spirit enters into the lives of those who are ready and willing to accept Him.

Each week a smaller percentage of…

Be a man of Christ

Men of Christ… step up. It is time for us to take on the mantle that was given to us on the day of our salvation, when we heeded the call to turn from our sins and embrace Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer. As I sit here reflecting on my life, a life mostly wasted pursuing my own heart, I praise Jesus for His patience, for His forgiveness. That He would watch me over the years and still love me…

Heavenly Father… Be with us today as we go forth from our day of rest and communion with the Lord, keep us safe from the evils of the world and yet help us to show the Light of You and the joy of being your children. We call you Father, Comforter, Creator and Guide. The One above all others Who rules through Jesus the Name above all names, the matchless One, the Savior, the Master of us all.

Let…

What would Jesus do

Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be followers of God, as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

As we wake in the morning and celebrate the new day the Lord has granted us, one of the things we need to ask ourselves is ‘what would Jesus do with this time?’. We have been given a…

Luke 14:27-28 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me, he cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it;

All too often we speak of the great joy of following Jesus and do not speak of pain and suffering that will inevitably occur as a direct result of this decision. You see,…

Ephesians 4:22-24 For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness.

When you meet Jesus and acknowledge Him as your savior, when you turn from your sin and let the Holy Spirit…

1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him [Jesus] ought himself also to walk even as He walked.

Our lives are intertwined with the lives of others in complex and sometimes puzzling ways and we cannot expect our actions to go unnoticed. If we have been cruising along going to church on Sunday and leaving Jesus at the alter after services and then realize that we are expected to bring Him with us…

John 16:13-15 However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will announce it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and will announce it…

1 Peter 2:21 For you were not called to this? For Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps,

Follow His steps… walk in the steps of Jesus… forsaking all others… trusting in the Lord to keep and protect… knowing that He will keep and protect you from all evil… resting in His Love as you seek His will and follow His steps.

As professing…

We returned the day before yesterday from Yuma where we had a celebration of life ceremony for my mother. Her life was lived to serve her God, her family and her community. She was, and still is, an inspiration to everyone she met. But to me she was always just Mom. See you later and love you bunches Mom.

Live your life in service to others, love everyone like Jesus loves you and give of yourself…

Work as unto the Lord

While I am doing my morning devotions I sit at the table facing the patio doors. I watch as the maintenance staff goes out to the swimming pool to prepare for the day. Every day they take at least one trash bag of litter and trash away, sweep the deck and skim the pool. They check and adjust the chemicals and line the lounge chairs back up. They do all of this to make the lives of the rest of us…

As we listened to the sermon this morning, Pastor Ralph spoke on little phrase that really resonated with me. As he spoke about how important our relationships are he said, “People are eternal, and they matter.” This simple truth should be spoken frequently.

Every human being is precious in the sight of the Lord and worthy of our love. Just because they are in trouble, just because their life’s…

As we sit quietly in the morning, contemplating the day, we realize that each day tends to be like every other day… it is what we do with each day that matters. Every morning we are given a clean slate, an empty page upon which to write and what we write on these blank pages will determine our fate.

We can choose to use the day to be hateful, to look for ways to inflict pain on others. We can…

Keep your testimony clear

During my late teens and early twenties, I was in college and then the military when the country was embroiled in controversy. There were marches and speeches and anger on both sides of the divisive issues. There were sit ins, marches and loud and abrasive demonstrations… and yet, the country survived. Healing occurred and we, as a nation, stepped back from the brink of self-destruction because…

Because we live in an apartment complex we tether our cat on the back patio rather than let him run loose and once or twice a day we walk him out front. Usually this works well but occasionally it causes him great anguish… like today. He had been for his walk (courtesy of Linda) and then went out back to watch the maintenance guys clean the pool in the aftermath of the 4th (tale for another…

Our lives on this earth begin with our birth and proceed through time to our death. Our souls begin with a spark from the Lord go on through eternity unaffected by time or our death. It is our souls that should concern us, for they do not end in time, they fly right through the barriers of death and what happens after is determined by what happens here on earth in this time and place.

Our actions…