by Pastor Cecil | Feb 21, 2020 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away! That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but a ball of fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short – – compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to: https://pastorcecil.com
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 20, 2020 | Philippians
Philippians 3:12
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
Sometimes spiritual leaders give the impression that they are so holy, that they dine with the angels. The truth of the matter is that the closest we get to becoming angelic is that we just enjoy angel food cake.
We need times of humiliation to remind us that we are still under construction. I think it is safe to say that we will always be under construction. The danger is when we feel like the job is completed and stop the building process. A building that is not under construction is a building that is starting to decay.
I heard an evangelist years ago, tell of a woman after a service who spoke very kindly to him and tell him he was so mature. He rushed home and looked up the word mature so he would be better able to enjoy all of its meaning. To his dismay, the definition said; “ripe and getting rotten.” That is what happens when we stop the building process.
Never stop the construction process. We should never know the meaning of retirement when it comes to doing the work of the Lord. We may be free from the job that we have held throughout our life, but, when it comes to doing the work of the Lord it is always “UNDER CONSTRUCTION. GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH US YET!”
Blessings dear hearts! Walk with God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 19, 2020 | Matthew
Matthew 8:34
“Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.”
Rejection is one of the hardest things in life to deal with. In one way or another, it is an uninvited guest that will appear at the door of our life one time or another. You alone know what rejection or rejections you have encountered or are encountering at this moment.
Jesus and His disciples had just crossed the Sea of Galilee and met two demon possessed men who lived in the tombs. The demons cried out in recognition of Him and begged Him to be allowed to go into a herd of swine. Jesus allowed them to possess the beasts. The result of this action was that the swine rushed into the water and were drowned. It is interesting that two men, even though they were driven mad, tolerated the demons, but the pigs perished.
The town people had two choices. They could rejoice over the two demoniacs who had been set free, or they get ticked off about the pigs that were now floating on the water. They preferred the pigs! It does not make sense, but sin never does. They asked Jesus to leave their region. This is the Son of God! This is the Messiah who could heal and deliver and restore, but they had lost their pigs, and that was what was important to them.
Jesus left their region, but from that time on the people must have been reminded that they had chosen pigs over the Savior. What is your choice?
Blessings dear hearts! Walk with God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 18, 2020 | 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
You may have heard the story of the young man who was composing a love note to his sweetheart. He vowed that he would climb the highest mountain, swim the widest river, and fight the most ferocious beast to prove his love for her. At the bottom of the note he added a P.S. “I will come and see you Sunday if it does not rain.” Oops!
I once heard my dear friend, Pastor Chuck Higgins, preach from this passage in 1 Corinthians. He started out by simply reading the familiar verses. He then read it a second time and replaced the word love with the name Jesus. It fit perfectly. But Pastor Higgins was not finished.
He read it a third time and replaced the word love with the name Charles E. Higgins. We all laughed nervously as we realized that it would be difficult to live up to the scriptures’ description of love. But he was still not finished. He asked each of us to silently read the passage and replace the word love with our own name. It became strangely silent in that room.
I would like to challenge you to read this passage and insert your own name. From this moment on try to make the description fit the way you live your life.
Blessings dear hearts! Walk with God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 17, 2020 | Romans
Romans 12:2
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Just because we observe others acting or re-acting to a situation in a certain way does not mean that it is true. I once taught a college class and wanted to demonstrate the danger of relying on the response of others. I thoroughly washed a perfume bottle and completely purged it of any odor. I reminded the class that it was dangerous to rely on the responses of others. I was now about to catch them off guard.
I instructed the students to raise their hands the moment they could smell the perfume. Before class I had enlisted several students to assist me in the test. I asked them to sit in the front row and raise their hands after twenty to thirty seconds.
After twenty seconds the students I had enlisted to help me began to raise their hands.Soon everyone on the front row had their hands up, then the second row, and then several in the third row. I stopped the lecture and asked them what fragrance they thought it was? They finally agreed that it was floral and probably lilac.The students were stunned as I passed the bottle of pure water around and they discovered that there was no perfume and that they had responded because others had responded.
There are many religious leaders who are leading the faithful away from the pure Word by their charismatic personalities and the hoopla surrounding a polished production.We must never let this happen! There must never be a compromise with anything or anybody who deviates from the pure Word!
Blessings dear hearts! Walk with God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
