by Pastor Cecil | Feb 3, 2016 | Isaiah
Isaiah 28:10
“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
I once heard the story of a young pastor who came to his first assignment. Shortly after his arrival he moved the piano from one side of the church to the other. His action caused such an uproar he was forced to resign.
Some years later he returned to visit that same church and, much to his surprise, he saw the piano located where he had wanted to move it. He asked the new pastor how he had managed to have it relocated. The answer shocked him: “An inch a week!”
Many of us have heard the expression, “It’s a cinch by the inch, but it’s hard by the yard.” I am not sure how those of you using the metric system may be able to have a similar rhyme, but the idea is there regardless.
A gradual approach can be used in a positive context as well as a negative one. We can gradually make compromises that will lead us farther away from God’s pattern of righteousness, or we can gradually grow in grace and in the knowledge of God’s plan and purpose for our life. The answer is being disciplined to study God’s word and keep our prayer life active.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 2, 2016 | John
John 17:6-7
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.”
I recently discovered my mom’s old photograph album. It must be almost 70 years old. As I thumbed through the pages of old black-and-white photos, there were precious few of the people that I could identify. Sadly, Mom had not recorded their names on the backs of the pictures … so they remain unidentified.
I sent several to my cousin, but he was able to identify only a couple people. We both are stymied and have no one that we can call upon to identify the people in those black-and-white photographs. He told me he found a similar album in his grandmother’s house after she died and had the same problem. He threw the photos away as there was no one alive to identify them.
This incident causes me to wonder if we could be identified as true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would people be able to identify us as true believers based entirely on our actions? Without the name “Christian” on our back, would we be the same as those old black and white photos — UNIDENTIFIED? Think about it!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 1, 2016 | Psalm
Psalm 1:1-2
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
“Delight” is a delightful word. (I can’t believe I wrote that!) The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: a strong feeling of happiness; great pleasure or satisfaction. That is the same definition David intended when he penned the words of this Psalm.
What brings delight into your life? What are the things that bring you pleasure? If we are honest with ourselves, I think most of us would have to confess that it’s the earthly things that bring us pleasure — things we can touch, taste, or feel.
If you will read today’s Scripture once again, you’ll see that David emphasizes that our delight is in the law (instruction) of the Lord. By that, he implies the Word of God; taking delight in it, a person meditates on it day and night.
I’ve mentioned earlier that “meditate” comes from the root word that implies a cow chewing its cud, swallowing, and then bringing it up to chew over again. Meditating on God’s Word follows the same process, bringing it into our mind again and again until it becomes a part of us. Where do you find your delight?!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 29, 2016 | Matthew
Matthew 28:19-20
“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.”
I was born in 1934 to a humble working class family in the United States. One hundred years earlier, Katherine Hankey was born to a wealthy family in England. Katherine found great joy in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. She conducted Bible studies all over the city of London.
At age 30, Katherine experienced medical problems that prevented her from leading her Bible studies for one year. It was during that year of rehabilitation that she wrote a long poem about her Jesus. The last part of her poem contains the words of this week’s hymn. The music was composed by William Fisher.
I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY
I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love;
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true,
It satisfies my longings as nothing else would do.
Refrain: I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, more wonderful it seems
Than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams;
I love to tell the story, it did so much for me,
And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
Refrain: I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, ’tis pleasant to repeat,
What seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet;
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.
Refrain: I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, for those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest;
And when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song,
’Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.
Refrain: I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 28, 2016 | Romans
Romans 5:1-2
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Back during my college days there was always a lot of stress as we waited to get the results of work that we had submitted. As I recall there were comments that sounded like this; “I hope I did okay.” It was not a confident expectation, but a lot of unknown.
In Scripture the word hope is used frequently. In fact it is used well over 100 times. It is interesting that both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the word denotes a voice of confidence or expectation.
It is common for us to use the word hope in times when we doubt that it will happen. Advertisers announce a huge drawing in which a large amount of money will be given to some lucky winner. It could be us and we may hope it will be, but our chances are slim to none!
The hope that we read about in today’s Scripture is a confident expectation. God says and He is always true to His Word. Our hope is the kind that rejoices before it happens because we know it will. Confident expectation! That is our hope!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
