by Pastor Cecil | Feb 12, 2016 | Hebrews
Hebrews 10:22
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Fanny J. Crosby was visiting the home of a friend, Phoebe Knapp. Phoebe was playing a new melody she had just composed and mentioned to Fanny that she called it Assurance. Fanny responded, “Blessed Assurance.”
Fanny returned home and quickly penned the words to the hymn that has become such a favorite since it was published way back in 1873. It is just as much a blessed assurance today as it was back then.
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain: This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angles descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Refrain: This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Refrain: This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Enjoy this free inspirational video of, “Blessed Assurance” by going to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/blessedassurance/
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 11, 2016 | Philippians
Philippians 4:4-6
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
If you were to score yourself on the basis of rejoicing, how well would you do? That is an embarrassing question, isn’t it? It should not be. Christians in the early church were known for their love for one another, but also for their rejoicing.
Paul urges the church at Philippi to rejoice always. I’m not sure what always means to you but to me it means at all times and under all circumstances. The reason is that we rejoice in the Lord! That means we look beyond the circumstance and try to see what God is planning to do next.
Rejoicing carries with it an element of expectation. If God says it and we believe it, we need to open our eyes to the power of God at work in and around us. Paul goes on and says that we are to let our gentleness be known to everyone. We can do that when we rejoice in the Lord always.
Next, Paul says that we are to get rid of our anxious thoughts and replace them with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. That is where rejoicing is the greatest testimony that a Christian can possess. Are you rejoicing?!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 10, 2016 | Matthew
Matthew 26:38
“Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’”
In yesterday’s Blessings From the Heart I used the title “GO!” — so it may sound a little contrary to select the title “STAY!” for today. It appears the two terms are opposed to each other, but even a casual study will reveal that is not the case.
If we go in our own strength and with our own wisdom we will be doomed to fall short of God’s plan and purpose for our life. Jesus was facing the ordeal of the cross and called His disciples to stay with Him and watch. Instead, they allowed their own weariness to supersede His invitation.
Before we reach out and impact the world for Jesus, we need to stay close by His side. The disciples had been by the side of their Master for several years. They had even been able to perform miracles when He sent them out two by two. But now, as always, He needed them to stay close to Him.
It is time to commit ourselves to staying close to the Lord. There is nothing we can do in our own strength that will last for eternity. The fact of the matter is that when we do things in our own strength, it leads to pride of self rather than glory to the Lord. I want to stay close to Him every moment of every day so I will be useful to Him.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 9, 2016 | Matthew
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”
When I was growing up, one of my parents would tell me to go and do something. It may have been to go to the store, go mow the lawn, or go do my homework. What it did not mean was to stay.
Somewhere along the line we have concluded that we can do the work of the Lord by having people come to us. We have changed the understanding of the great commission to having people come from all the nations so that we can make disciples of them. But that is not what it says!
We can go in many different ways. My wife Joyce had a wonderful ministry of discipleship by sending cards. I often felt she was far more effective than I was. The Holy Spirit would direct her about the card to send, the person to send it to, and the message she was to impart. In her own way Joyce was “going” to make disciples.
God may be calling you to go as a missionary, a teacher, a preacher, or some other full-time Christian vocation, but we are all called to make disciples. Ask the Lord to show you how you can fulfill the great commission.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 8, 2016 | Ephesians
Ephesians 4:1-3
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
When I was ordained as a minister of the Gospel, I was in a group who had completed years of study and had also held a pastoral position long enough to know what the rigors of the ministry were.
We were challenged that night to walk worthy of our calling. Perhaps we had not experienced the rigors of life long enough to know what that entailed — the times when we would deal with broken hearts and broken lives — but what about our own walk with the Lord? Would we be WORTHY WALKERS?
Paul makes it very clear in this letter to the church at Ephesus what it means to be worthy of the calling of the Lord. Listen to the adjectives he uses: LOWLINESS, GENTLENESS, LONGSUFFERING, BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER, TRYING TO KEEP THE PEACE.
I think it is important for me as well as you to make it a practice to read these verses on a regular basis and see how we measure up. As for me, I know that I want to be considered a worthy walker for the Lord!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
