by Pastor Cecil | Apr 2, 2018 | 1 Kings
1 Kings 18:21
“And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.”
Are you fish or fowl? What do I mean by that question? I am really interested in knowing whether you have repented of your sins, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart and had your name written in the Lamb’s Book of life.
There are many who know about Jesus and His saving work—even have faith that He is the Savior of the world—but have you been born again? To be born again is much more than believing about Jesus, it is inviting Him to be the Lord.
Elijah was a faithful prophet of the Lord. He had the gumption to stand up against the wicked King Ahab and the 450 prophets of Baal. He challenged the people before he challenged the prophets of Baal. He wanted to know whether they stood for God or against Him.
In Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23, we read the words of Jesus as He challenged the people of His day: “He that is not with Me is against Me.” That leaves no middle ground for a namby-pamby relationship. If Jesus required a committed relationship then, He still requires it today!
In response to Elijah’s challenge the people remained silent. Their silence answered the question. In the same way our silence to the call to come to Jesus and be born again signifies our refusal to follow.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 30, 2018 | Titus
Titus 3:4-5
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
One night, 1886, in group of Christians were singing in a down-and-out part of a large city. A distraught young woman questioned if it would be possible for a sinner like her to be saved. Listening to her heart-cry for salvation, she was taken back to the mission and left with the ladies in charge. The young, wayward woman was brought to Christ that night.
A situation was secured for her in a minister’s family. Sometime later she became ill and had to be taken to a hospital. She rapidly failed and it became evident that she would not be long on earth. One of the gentlemen, whom she had met on that night on the street, was visiting her in the ward. After quoting a few suitable verses of Scripture, he repeated her favorite hymn, “All to Christ I Owe.”Two hours afterward she passed away.
Of course the greatest payment in our behalf is the gift of eternal life. It cost the horrible death of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He paid what we could not pay. He went to the cross voluntarily because He knew we would never be able to pay the cost.
Jesus Paid It All
I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
For nothing good have I,
whereby Thy grace to claim
I will wash my garments white,
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
And when before the throne,
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.
Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
To access Jesus Paid It All, this inspirational video from GloryScapes.com, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/jesuspaiditall/
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 29, 2018 | Luke
Luke 12:56
“Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?”
I really enjoy watching the weather channel. It is amazing to see the eye of a hurricane or typhoon from outer space. Modern technology is able to predict the paths of storms long before they actually arrive. On the ground there are teams of weather trackers attempting to study and predict the weather live.
Jesus seems to have something of this in mind when He spoke about people knowing how to predict weather patterns but failing to understand what is happening in fulfillment of the prophecy given in God’s Word.
In Matthew 24, Jesus gives us over twenty signs that mark His second coming. If you go there and read that chapter you will see a description of what is happening in our world at the present time. If you are feeling overwhelmed in your walk with the Lord, there is hope and comfort in knowing that the time is near.
So what does this mean for us? It means that there is a lost and dying world around us facing an eternity in hell unless they repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. As we view the signs around us we must be faithful to rescue the perishing while there is time.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 28, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 25:40
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
Many years ago I had an appointment with another minister at his church. As I was walking in I noticed a jovial elderly man that I knew. Old Ben was busy mowing the church’s lawn as if it was the most vital job in the world. After my meeting with the pastor I saw that Old Ben was resting in the shade.
I asked if he worked for the church and he replied that he just did it as his own ministry. Further inquiry revealed that not only did he mow the lawn at the church, he also mowed and trimmed the lawns of several local widows without any expense to them. It was Ben’s “mower ministry.”
Sometimes we may think that we need to have a degree in theology in order to be a minister. Beep! Wrong answer! All we need to do is give a drink of water (or mow a lawn) as a means of ministering for our Lord.
How are you ministering for the Lord in your own life? Are you allowing Him to take the simple acts of kindness toward others and make them the means of sharing the Gospel of Jesus in a meaningful way? I think many of us ministers need to get behind a mower and serve the Lord more effectively.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 27, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 5:37
“But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”
Have you ever made a promise and later regretted that you had made it? I know that I have found myself in a difficult situation and wished I could take back my promise. My dad was a model of integrity and demonstrated the worth of his word.
There was the time when he made a mistake in making a pledge to purchase stained glass windows for the church. He made an honest mistake since he did not hear correctly. Instead of pledging $500 he mistakenly pledged $5,000.
Dad prayed about it and told the Lord about his mistake (the Lord already knew) and asked Him to assist him to make the necessary money to meet his pledge (he was retired and had not worked for several years). God graciously answered dad’s prayers and he was asked to do extra work sufficient to cover his pledge. It became a special blessing that went far beyond the money he earned. It was an intimate provision from the Lord my dad loved so much.
God has given us many promises in His Word. The problem is that we fail to search the Scriptures to discover what God has given us. We will spend most of this week searching the first chapter of Second Peter to discover a few of those sacred promises.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
