Reflections
Greetings and blessings to all of you. I have been thinking about the Simplicity of the Gospel. By definition it means “the teaching or revelation of Christ.” A stumbling block for most people is Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” When ministering or sharing the “Good News” we must explain that by nature we are all separated from God. He is holy but we are human and do not measure up to His perfect standard. We are sinful, and “the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 Sharing the Gospel can become complicated when...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. I have been thinking about the right way to respond to suffering? Why? Because when I see evil and the suffering of people around the world and in our nation, I want to make sense of it. When I hear others speak of abuse, desertion, and disease my heart is saddened. I will give them the verse “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4) I will remind them of the verse, in I Peter 4:16 “yet if any man suffers as a Christ...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. I am very grateful that I have eternal life. I am so happy I am not alienated from Christ. I have made peace with my Savior. Have you? Heb. 11:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” My sister has passed on but you and I are still here. We have an opportunity to heed to the warning. In Joshua 14-15 it says, “Now therefore fear the Lord serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served (on the other side of the River and in Egypt). Serve the Lord! And if it seems ...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. A question was asked “does what we do matter to God?” The Bible says, “whatever you do… do it all for the glory of God.” Col.3:12-17 Per the Daily Bread I agree that we should ask these questions … How are we doing it, Why are we doing it and Who are we doing it for. Some of us are in bondage to harsh legalism. For example, can a Christian go to a football game on Sunday? If we say it is fine to watch a football game on TV, but we should not attend a game on Sunday then we will be caught arguin...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. We sometimes sing from the Psalms “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil” we will trust in God’s stability. God said, “Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” So, let the winds blow. Let the earth itself open beneath us. We find our refu...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. I just returned from a visit to the Midwest. I noted in my spirit a prevailing ‘emptiness’ over the city. Sometimes emptiness comes from focusing on this world and on this time. There is a “spirit of the age” in every generation in every culture. Secularism is the prevailing spirit of this age. Little attention is given to things that are above and beyond this world. Eternity is rarely considered save for a brief moment at a graveside. What counts for the secularists is the here and now. To live for the moment, for the g...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. Do you find yourself discouraged, and shaken, and upset? Well, you are not alone. The church at Thessalonica felt their comfort zone being squeezed as they were serving Christ because they noticed that Christians around them were dying and Christ had not returned as he promised. Does this sound familiar? We are also waiting for His return and in the meantime have you been hearing the news? Not only is it fake news; it is downright depressing and scary? Have you had plans for the future? But all you see now is another year older, poor health and meager fin...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. I read this on FB “Satan’s target is your mind and his weapon is lies. So, fill your mind with God’s word.” When Satan tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus quoted Scripture from Deut.8:3,“man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” When you are in ‘your wilderness’ do you know enough Scripture to quote that will help you go thru? When you are going thru do you begin realizing with a humble heart that, “all we like sheep have gone astray, each of us...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. Last week I mentioned the word abandonment. What does that word mean? In the MW dictionary it says,” to hand over, to put in someone’s control to give up completely.” Have you surrendered your life to Christ completely? If so then you must know that God has asked us to be diligent in his/her service to God. He has left us His Word to help us do this. How can we be of service to God if we do not read His Word then apply it? Studying the Bible is:
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(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. The beginning of the year has some of us making resolutions…things we are going to do or not going to do. Things we will change or not change. People we will speak to or just cut them off. Places we will go or not go. Some of this is good some of it is not so good. Instead of cutting off people…we should begin to consistently pray for them. And let us begin listening to the voice of God as we surrender our lives to Him. And what about deciding to fully participate in the church ministries in order to get out of ourselves and get i...
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