by Pastor Cecil | Jun 16, 2015 | Romans
Romans 6:4
“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Have you ever met people who claimed to have accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord, yet they continued to live the same hollow lives they did before? Some may call them carnal Christians, but in reality they may not be Christians at all.
In today’s Scripture Paul was writing to believers in Rome about how they should live. One day he would be there in person to live out what he was telling them. It is one thing to preach, but another thing to live it!
If Paul were to suddenly appear in your home, your work place, or your church, what do you think he would find? Let me take that another step further. What if Jesus would appear in those places? Does that make you a little uncomfortable?
Let me be so bold as to rattle your cage even more. If you truly have given your heart to the Lord Jesus and accepted Him as Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit is always with you. When you do those questionable things that you think no one sees . . . the Holy Spirit sees! Wherever you go and whatever you do is known to the Lord. How then should we live our life? “Walk in newness of life.”
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 15, 2015 | Acts
Acts 5:41-42
“The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
I hate to admit it, but there are obnoxious Christians out there! By that I mean there are people who claim the name of Jesus as their personal Savior, but they live lives that border (one side or the other) on unquestionable practices. I hear from people that are around these types, and they perceive that person has an ugly spirit within them. Often that is what the world sees . . . and that is how they judge all who claim the name of Christ.
The early Christians constantly put their lives on the line for the sake of Christ. Were they all perfect? Absolutely not! None of us are. But those believers were willing to give everything they had, including their very lives, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ who had saved them and given them eternal life.
As I read the story of the Christians in that early New Testament Church, I noticed that they never felt sorry for themselves. In fact, they considered it a spiritual blessing to endure suffering. Today, if we have to endure insults or innuendos, we whimper and cry like babies. It is a far cry from our brothers and sisters who gave their lives for the Gospel.
I want to make a new commitment to live my life with rejoicing rather than trying to feel sorry for myself!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 12, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 33:1-3
“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
What a wonderful woman! She stood less than five feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds. Because of being maltreated for an eye infection when she was only a few months old, she spent the remained of her 95 years totally blind.
Her name was Fanny J. Crosby. This tiny dynamo wrote over 8,000 poems and hymns during her lifetime. She composed her poems and hymns entirely in her mind and then dictated them to a stenographer. She was said to be able to work on as many as twelve hymns at once before dictating them all out.
Fanny felt that it was a special gift from God that she should be blind all of her life and she thanked Him for that gift. She felt that once she arrived in heaven the first face she desired to gladden her sight was he precious Savior. It was in 1896 that she wrote the hymn selected this week.
Praise Him! Praise Him!
1. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory;
strength and honor give to His holy name!
Like a shepherd Jesus will guard His children,
in His arms He carries them all day long:
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise him! Praise him ever in joyful song!
2. Praise him! Praise him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
For our sins he suffered, and bled and died;
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
love unbounded, wonderful deep and strong:
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise Him! Praise Him ever in joyful song!
3. Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever;
crown Him! crown Him! Prophet and Priest and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
power and glory unto the Lord belong.
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise Him! Praise Him ever in joyful song!
To access Praise Him, Praise Him, this week’s inspirational video from GloryScapes™ Inspirational Music Videos, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/praisehimpraisehim in your browser 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 | Jun 11, 2015 | Hebrews
Hebrews 4:14-15
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Recently I read something by David Jeremiah about the distinction between sympathy and empathy, which I have been pondering on ever since. The difference is both startling and revealing at the same time.
Sympathy may be described as having pity or sorrow for the misfortunes of someone else. We have often felt sorry for people who are going through difficult times. We may even claim to know what a person is going through, but do we really? Feeling sorry for someone is not being able to identify with that person’s trial.
Empathy differs from sympathy because it can identify with that other person. In order to do so, they must have gone through or must now be going through that very circumstance in their own life. We need to be careful with our words of sympathy. They may sound hollow to the one who is traveling through a deep valley of trial.
Jesus knew that we would be going through times of trials and tribulation. Across the centuries of time, followers of Christ have suffered and died for the sake of the Gospel. Our Lord has empathy because He has been in that same position. He knows what it feels like to be tested and tried, to be tempted and tormented. When we go through the difficult times of life, there is a Rock we can turn to. That Rock is Jesus. He knows and cares.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 10, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 139:1-3
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.”
I have enjoyed flying for as long as I can remember. I think the first time I ever flew in a small plane was when a second cousin who is a pilot took me for a flight when we were visiting in Oklahoma. From that time on every opportunity I had I would volunteer to go along with someone who was flying.
A new experience came along when I had my first helicopter ride. I was in the United States Air Force stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. I was a Minuteman Missile Crew Commander. Some of our launch facilities were miles away from home base and the crew would be flown out by helicopter. What a blast! (Oops! Perhaps that was the wrong adjective to use when speaking of strategic missiles!)
I have mentioned before that while traveling in a helicopter you are close enough to the ground to observe traffic from above. Not only that, you are able to see what was ahead. The driver in that car could not see ahead, but we could see ahead. If somehow we could communicate, we could tell the driver when it was safe to pass, even when approaching a hill. What could be suicide for a driver without direction, would become very safe.
Aren’t you glad we have a God in heaven who knows our tomorrows before we get there. He knows the difficulties, the joys, the challenges, the impossibilities, as a matter of fact he knows each and every situation that we will face. If only we could see what he sees! But he calls us to trust and obey. There’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
