by Pastor Cecil | Feb 6, 2009 | Psalm
Psalm 139:1-4
“O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.”
In the early 1900’s, a woman by the name of Lela Long heard a medical missionary on furlough from China share the story of his work. Whenever someone came to him for treatment he would always tell them the story of Jesus.
One morning, before the doors of the clinic were opened, there was a knock at the door. There stood an elderly woman, stooped with age. He could tell by the dust on her feet and clothing that she had come a long way.
He treated her and as always, told her about Jesus. As she heard the beautiful story of Jesus love, she opened her heart to receive Jesus as her personal Savior. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she accepted the gift of eternal life.
Quite some time had passed and there was a knock at the missionary’s door. When he opened the door, he found the same old woman that had come to him several weeks before.
She said, “Sir, He has saved me and I know He lives in my heart. He has made my life so happy! But sir, I have forgotten His name. Could you please tell me his name again?” The missionary repeated over and over again the name, “Jesus,” “Jesus,” “Jesus.” Each time the little old lady echoed that name, “Jesus.”
After hearing the story Lela Long wrote the following hymn:
JESUS IS THE SWEETEST NAME I KNOW
There have been names that I have loved to hear,
But never has there been a name so dear
To this heart of mine, as the Name divine,
The precious, precious Name of Jesus.
Refrain
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
And He’s just the same as His lovely Name,
And that’s the reason why I love Him so;
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
There is no name in earth or heav’n above,
That we should give such honor and such love
As the blessed Name, let us all acclaim,
That wondrous, glorious Name of Jesus.
Refrain
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
And He’s just the same as His lovely Name,
And that’s the reason why I love Him so;
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
And some day I shall see Him face to face
To thank and praise Him for His wondrous grace,
Which He gave to me, when He made me free,
The blessed Son of God called Jesus.
Refrain
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
And He’s just the same as His lovely Name,
And that’s the reason why I love Him so;
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
To access the inspirational music video, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/jesusisthesweetestnameiknow or click on the image below.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 5, 2009 | Matthew
Matthew 10:29-31
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
We have a new member of our family. Let me re-phrase that—we have two new members. Our granddaughter, Jenna gave birth to our first great grandchild, Rhett James Simek, on January 16th. We also have a new canary that we have named, Buddy the Bird.
Buddy is a yellow bundle of joy that cannot be contained. He loves to sing, especially when we run water in the kitchen sink. But at other times, especially when both Joyce and I are in the room, he breaks into the most beautiful song.
It reminds me of the words of a song written by Civilla Martin in 1905. Here is what she wrote about what led her to write the words to that hymn:
Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God.
Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”
The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow was the outcome of that experience.
His Eye is on the Sparrow – popular hymn by Civilla Martin
Why should I feel discouraged,
why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
and long for heaven and home.
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me.
Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,”
His tender word I hear;
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth,
but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me.
Refrain
Whenever I am tempted,
whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me.
Refrain
Over and over I am reminded that our eyes should be on the Lord. I want to learn a lesson from our little “Buddy the Bird.” Rather than moaning and complaining about the bad things that are happening, I want to sing the praises of the Lord.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 4, 2009 | Psalm
Psalm 139:1-4
“O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD”
Did you ever do something stupid or thoughtless and suddenly realize that there was someone you knew who was involved? Years ago I was stopped at a stop sign waiting for cars to pass, when suddenly someone plowed into the back of my car.
When I opened the door to check, I realized that it was not the car behind me that was at fault, but another car had rammed into the back of her car and propelled it into mine. Got the picture?
As the driver behind me and I walked back to the offender who had started all of this, I was in for a big shock. It was a teenage girl from our church. When she saw that her inattention had damaged her pastor’s car she almost lost it!
Yesterday one of the men in our church fellowship shared an incident he had experienced last week. He was driving through one of those dreaded “round-a-bouts” that supposedly are intended to control traffic, but to my mind they confound more than control.
Well, back to my story. He thought he had enough room to make a turn, but realized that he cut off another vehicle in the process. That would have been bad enough, but as he looked in the rear view mirror, he thought the driver may be the daughter of one of his friends. It turned out that it wasn’t and he escaped without an embarrassing confrontation.
As I think about these situations I am reminded of today’s Scripture. It reveals that we face much more than the humiliation of doing something wrong in front of people who know us. All of our actions are known by God!
I certainly do not want to present a picture of God looking over the parapets of heaven and waiting for us to do something wrong. According to Psalm 139 He is way ahead of us. He knows what we are going to do before we do it—what we are going to think before we think it—what we are going to say before we say it.
I am humbled by the reality that in spite of all of the foolish and sinful things I may do, the Lord has shed His blood to cover those sins. Rather than being vindictive, He wants me to know that whenever I confess my sin, He is always faithful and just. He is eager to hear my confession so He can forgive me and cleanse me.
In my mind’s eye I picture the Lord as the faithful Father waiting for the prodigal child to come home. We never have to beg Him to receive us—He is waiting for that moment when we rush into His arms and ask Him to forgive our OOPS! What a homecoming!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 3, 2009 | Luke
Luke 19:1-10
“1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Him since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’”
Last week I received a request from a friend of mine for any information I may have about Zacchaeus. I didn’t expect to be able to provide anything of substance, but how wrong I was. Let me share with you some of the insights I discovered in Luke 19 about this remarkable man.
The Bible speaks for itself. Here are some of my observations concerning this passage:
1. The location was Jericho and Jesus was just passing through. It seems He had not planned to stop in Jericho.
2. Being wealthy and a tax collector were two big issues for these judgmental Jews. They despised tax collectors (Matthew was one) and no doubt concluded that he was wealthy because of cheating people on their taxes.
3. It is interesting that he wanted to see who Jesus was—not just a casual interest in laying his eyes on Him—but to see Jesus with his heart as well as his eyes. There was such a crowd that it prevented him from seeing over the crowd.
4. Verse four is amazing! It indicates a loss of dignity for this chief tax collector and rich man to behave like a small school boy who runs and climbs in order to catch a glimpse of a dignitary.
5. Not only did Zacchaeus get to see Jesus, but Jesus saw him and knew him by name. Jesus invited Himself to spend time in Zacchaeus’ house.
6. Zacchaeus was overjoyed to be able to entertain Jesus, but the Jews grumbled because they looked upon Zacchaeus as a sinner.
7. Verse eight is to me one of the most amazing math lessons in Scripture. Zacchaeus was so touched by the presence of Jesus that he determined to give half of his wealth to the poor. That leaves him with only 1/2 of his net worth-right? Now he goes on and promises to pay back 4 times the amount if he has cheated anyone. Wait a minute! He only has 1/2 of his original wealth, so if he was any sort of cheat he would not have any money to repay 4 times the amount. This tells me that Zacchaeus must have been an honest man.
8. By His own words, Jesus proclaimed that Zacchaeus was saved that day. Jesus knew his heart and while the judgmental Jews saw him as a sinner, Jesus brought him salvation and an eternal reward.
When we have a desire to see Jesus—regardless of the costs—we will not only see Jesus but He will come to abide with us. He knows our heart and it is not so much the words we use, but the sincerity of our heart that make the difference. Let’s go see Jesus!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 2, 2009 | 1 Chronicles
1 Chronicles 29:14-15
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand. We are aliens and strangers in Your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.”
The second day of February! Ah yes—that day of the year when a groundhog crawls out of his den. Here is what Wikipedia says about the event: “Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated in United States and Canada on February 2.
In weather lore, if a groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, or marmot emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for 6 more weeks.”
Pardon me if I am skeptical about the ability of the shadow of a rodent in Pennsylvania to forecast the weather here in the State of Washington. As a matter of fact I seriously doubt the accuracy to predict the weather near his burrow.
Shadows are interesting. They are larger than reality yet they are not the real thing. In Psalm 23, when we read about the Lord being with us in the “valley of the shadow of death,” it is not the valley of death that produces the fear, but the shadow of death. Shadows will always magnify an object.
In today’s Scripture we are described as shadows. Not only that, we are called aliens and strangers. An apt description may be, shifting shadows that are here one minute and gone the next.
Once again I am reminded of the words of a spiritual song we used to sing: “This world is not my home, I’m just passing though. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”
At the beginning of the month of February, it is a good time to consider what is important in our life. Are we going to devote our efforts to the shifting shadows of this world, or are we going to lay up treasures in heaven?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
