by Pastor Cecil | Apr 9, 2018 | John
John 15:10
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
One of my all time favorite teachers and speakers is Dr. Howard Hendricks who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary. I once heard him share that early in his life he spent much of his time and effort in trying to change his wife, his children, and his students. The harder he tried, the less change he saw. (Isn’t that strange?!)
It suddenly dawned on him that he was going about it all wrong. He came to realize that he needed to change his wife’s husband, his children’s father, and his student’s professor. It reminds me of that old song: “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”
Howard began to pray for the Lord to make him a better husband, father, and teacher. Amazingly, his wife changed, his children changed, and his students changed! What had happened? He had stopped preaching at them and had started living his faith before them.
It may be easy for us to intellectually agree with this concept, so why is it so hard to put it into practice? It is simply that we live by the flesh and not by the Spirit. We must live in constant relationship with the Lord and allow Him to show us what to do—then how and when to do it.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 6, 2018 | Luke
Luke 15:19-20
“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
One of my most pleasurable jobs as a pastor is helping families restore broken relationships. I once was called upon to officiate at a funeral service. The son of the deceased told me that he had not spoken to his sister for years and wanted me to reconcile them before the service. Right! Just like that!
Less than an hour before the service I met with the two and their families. Each of them had children, spouses and others on their side. This son and his family were on one side of the aisle and his sister and her family on the other side. I had prayed for just the right words. I just started reading a Scripture. To this day cannot recall what I used. I had just finished reading when the brother stood and walked across the aisle and hugged his sister. The two families merged with great joy.
Fanny J. Crosby lived from 1820 to 1915. This remarkable lady never let problems keep her away from the Lord. Her blindness as an infant meant that she spent her entire life without physical sight, but was blessed with a keen spiritual sight.
When she was only eight years old she wrote the following poem: Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see! I am resolved that in this world contented I will be! How many blessings I enjoy that other people do not! So weep or sigh because I am blind, I cannot – nor I will not. The hymn, Draw Me Nearer expresses her desire to draw nearer to her blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Draw Me Nearer
I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
To access Draw Me Nearer, go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/drawmenearer/
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 5, 2018 | John
John 16:33b
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
It is easy to focus on the promises of good things such as prosperity and contentment. It is not so easy when we are confronted with promises of evil and difficulties. We certainly like to minimize those conditions.
It is encouraging to discover that God’s people have shown good cheer regardless of the circumstances they face. It reminds me of the humorous story about a man asking his friend, “How are you doing?” to which he replied, “Pretty well, under the circumstances.” The first man then asked his friend, “What are you doing under there?”
I think it is a good practice for us to evaluate our personal life to determine if we are living under the circumstances in defeat or above the circumstances in victory and good cheer.
I want to be like the victorious saints across the ages that have faced the tribulations of life with victory and good cheer. If God be for us who can be against us? Praise God for victory in Jesus and the good cheer He promises!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 4, 2018 | Luke
Luke 19:45
“Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it”
There have been a few times in my life when I was so dirty I looked like a dust ball. This was after spending hours on a mower or plow. It was a sheer delight to step into a shower and wash away the accumulated dirt and grime.
In the week of His crucifixion, Jesus exposed the sins of the leaders. The religious hierarchy had departed far from God’s demand for holiness. Jesus saw that they had violated the sanctity of the temple by allowing commercial enterprises to exist in a place they should have kept holy. They compromised in order to profit financially. They may have justified their actions by claiming that allowing peddlers in the temple was just to make it easy for the pilgrims to be able to sacrifice. Jesus was not deceived!
As I read today’s Scripture I am struck with the reality that anytime Jesus comes into our life, He wants to cleanse us. He will not tolerate our feeble excuses for allowing sin to contaminate us. He is the only One who can clean us completely.
How does Jesus go about cleansing the sin in our life? 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Is there sin in your life that needs to be cleansed? Read this verse and then obey it!!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 3, 2018 | Proverbs
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
In college there were prerequisites by which you could not enroll in a particular course until you had successfully completed a (prerequisite) class or classes. In much the same way, God places certain prerequisites in our life’s journey serving Him.
In today’s passage we find one don’t, two do’s, and a promise. Let’s get the don’t out of the way first: We are advised not to lean on our own understanding. All too often we discover that people place too much emphasis on what they know. It is called pride! God hates pride and we need to heed His warning against it.
God gives us two do’s: First, we are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart — that means our everything. Second, we are to acknowledge Him in all of our ways. Stop taking credit that rightfully belongs to the Lord.
The precious promise that God gives us in this passage is that He will direct our paths. That, to me, is better than any Global Positioning System GPS that man has ever developed.
Where do you find yourself in the process of meeting God’s conditional promises? I trust that you will learn along with me that God is better able to lead, guide, and direct than we will ever be.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
