by Pastor Cecil | Dec 31, 2008 | Revelation
Revelation 3:1-3
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
In this passage God is speaking. He is speaking not merely to a first-century church, but also to the churches of our day. Keep in mind that the “church” is not the structure made with wood, brick, stone, or other building materials. A church is composed of the people of God who come together as a body, for worship, fellowship, service and edification.
I want to walk very carefully here, as I express the words that God is laying on my heart at this very moment. We often think of a dead church as being stuffy, stilted, formal, and boring. That is all too often the case, but it goes much deeper than that. A dead church may also be filled with noise, activity, and even spiritual sounding terminology. It is even possible for people to seek emotional feelings in place of tenderly seeking God and God alone.
So what determines if a church is alive or dead? Let’s focus in a little closer. What determines if “you” are spiritually alive or dead? One of our typical responses is to focus on, “them.” “They are dead! He or she is dead!—I, on the other hand, am practically perfect in every way!” Such an idea, filled with self-sufficient pride, should be a dead giveaway of our spiritual morbidity (death).
We are spiritually dead, or near death, when we no longer have a spiritual appetite. If there is not a hunger in our hearts for God’s pure Word, we must check our pulse immediately! Unfortunately there are church members, or should I say, church attendees, who are more interested in the hymn selections, how long the service lasts, color of the carpet, etc., than they are about meeting with God. They fail to cherish a time to shut out the world and listen to His Word read and proclaimed, lift their hearts in prayer, and join with others of His family weekly, for a spiritual family reunion.
We individually are in need of spiritual “911” care if we do not have it daily—YES! I SAID DAILY—times of intimate prayer with God. Not just praying a shopping list of our requests, but sharing our deep feelings of praise and petition. A sign of spiritual life is being silent before Him in order to hear His soft, still voice speaking words of comfort and purpose to us. We need to take the time to lovingly read His Word and then spend time meditating about the words and visualizing what is being said. It is life giving to use Scripture as a part of our prayer.
I hope you are beginning to see that death in our midst is not easily covered up with the stench of human programs, practice or pretense. God sees the real us and desires more than “Let’s pretend.” It is time for a complete spiritual examination. As the Lord dictated this letter to the church in Sardis, and said they were dead, what would He say about us? Do we need to be resuscitated? If so, He stands ready to raise us from our dead condition, and breathe His new life into us.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 30, 2008 | 1 Peter
1 Peter 3:15
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
I cherish our small church fellowship. It would be very difficult to explain it since so many churches are much larger and have a different format. We have more of a family atmosphere and attempt to focus on the pattern of the New Testament church in Acts 2:42: The apostles teaching, prayer, breaking of bread and fellowship.
Sunday morning as I asked for prayer requests, a small girl raised her hand. She stunned me with a question rather than a request: “Why do we have to give our heart to the Lord?” It was an electric moment and the Holy Spirit seemed to impress me to forget everything and everyone in the room and speak directly to her.
I explained that the Lord tells us that it is the only way we will be born again and be with Him in heaven. One after another questions streamed from her. I blocked out everything else and gave her my undivided attention.
I cannot recall all of the questions she asked, but I do know that I was praying that the Lord would give me wisdom to answer them in such a way that this small girl would know that there is a God in heaven who cares about her.
This exchange seemed to draw us all close together and closer to Jesus who loved the little children. In Luke 18:16-17 we read of how Jesus felt concern for children: “But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'” Lord, may I always have ears to listen and be prepared to answer the sincere questions of either an adult or a little child!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 29, 2008 | Matthew
Mathew 2:11
“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”
When was Jesus born? Is there any indication in God’s Word that would answer that question? As a matter of fact there is, and it strongly points to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles is called “the season of our joy” and “the feast of the nations.” In Luke 2:10 it is written, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” Thus we can see from this that the terminology the angel used to announce the birth of Jesus were themes and messages associated with the Feast of Tabernacles.
There are other references that you may wish to search out for yourself. Just go online and research the date of Jesus’ birth.
I do not want to be an old humbug about this, but it is a sad commentary that we have been programmed by tradition rather than God’s Word as to the time of His coming.
But there is another matter that I would like to explore. It is the matter of gift giving. Imagine that it is your birthday and people have flocked over to your house with their arms loaded with gifts. They suddenly begin to exchange these gifts with each other but have brought nothing for you. Do you get the picture?
Let me digress long enough to mention that birthday celebrations are mentioned only twice in Scripture. In both instances the celebration resulted in a beheading. The first is in Genesis chapter 40 when the Pharaoh had the baker’s head removed just as Joseph had foretold.
The second mention of a birthday is recorded in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21. It was the birthday celebration of Herod and you may recall that at the bidding of Herodias, John the Baptist was beheaded.
Jesus came into the world to give mankind the greatest gift that anyone could ever imagine—eternal life! The sad thing is that so many have neglected this precious gift. It is there for anyone who will accept it, but most people ignore it or reject it.
Since the Christmas celebration was just a few days ago, we have almost a year to share the message that it is not the “day” we worship, but Jesus who became flesh and lived for a time as a man in order that He might redeem us with His shed blood and give us the precious gift of eternal life! That is the real gift!!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 26, 2008 | Isaiah
Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
When Isaiah penned the words of this prophecy concerning the coming of our Lord, there was certainly very little hope for the people of Israel. God had chosen them, but they had rejected Him, or at least they had neglected Him. Sounds pretty much the way of our present day world doesn’t it?
People may sing Christmas carols and even be so spiritual as to read the nativity story, but what is in their heart? To know “about” someone is not the same as actually knowing them. We may be introduced to a celebrity but that certainly does not mean we “know” them.
Several years ago Joyce and I were on a vacation in Hawaii. As we were seated for lunch one day, we happened to be seated at a table next to a famous comedian and his family. I have never seen such an old grouch in my life. He not only looked miserable, he acted miserable. He never acted like he was aware of anyone in the room, including the members of his own family. We didn’t know him and what is more we did not care to know him.
That is the negative side. I have been introduced to people that appeared to be warm and wonderful and I would have enjoyed spending time getting to know them, but, here we are again, I did not know them at all.
Just to read a story about the life of Jesus does not mean that we “know” Him. To really know Him requires a new birth. In John 3:16, He told Nicodemus that in order to know Him into eternity, we must experience a new birth. That requires a confession of our sins and asking Him to come into our heart and make us a new creation. Do you know Him?
To view “What Child Is This?” go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/whatchildisthis
Blessings dear hearts!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 25, 2008 | Romans
Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow withhope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
All around the world Christians will be celebrating Christmas in different ways. Many have eagerly looked forward to this day.
My prayer for each of you dear friends is that you will not worship the day, but that you will bow before the King of kings who came into the world as a tiny baby. He came in human form to give us the greatest gift possible—eternal salvation! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
To view “Silent Night” go to http://www.gloryscapes.com/silentnight
Blessings dear hearts!
Pastor Cecil and Joyce
