by Pastor Cecil | Apr 17, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:20-21
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This week we have been looking at 2 Corinthians chapter five. Paul stresses that we must have a new life in Christ in order to spend eternity with Him in heaven. It is not enough to say words or do good deeds—we must have our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
This week’s hymn is “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” In 1893, James Black was a Methodist Sunday school teacher in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. As he was calling roll one day for a youth meeting, young Bessie, daughter of a drunkard, did not show up, and he was disappointed at her failure to appear. He commented to a friend, “Well, I trust when the roll is called up yonder, she’ll be there.” He tried to find an appropriate song for the situation but could not find one in his song book.
Here is how Mr. Black describes how he came to write the hymn:
“This lack of a fitting song caused me both sorrow and disappointment. An inner voice seemed to say, ‘Why don’t you write one?’ I put away the thought. As I opened the gate on my way home, the same thought came again so strongly that tears filled my eyes. I entered the house and sat down at the piano. The words came to me effortlessly… The tune came the same way—I dared not change a single note or word.”
“When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder“
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound,
and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather
over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.
On that bright and cloudless morning
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather
to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain
Let us labor for the Master
from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over,
and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain
To access When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, this week’s inspirational video from GloryScapes.com, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/whentherolliscalledupyonder 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 | Apr 16, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
There are more than a few things that drive me up the wall. Okay, there are a lot of things that do that. I am normally a laid back individual, but there are certain things that I fail to understand. For instance: “Distressing!” No—not state of mind, but intentionally damaging a wood surface to make it appear to be old and dinged up.
In my world when something gets dinged up, it is time for it to bid farewell. (Well, there go my readers who prefer antiques!)
Let me get serious and look at a spiritual lesson from today’s Scripture. There are many spiritual truths to be found here, but I would like to focus our attention on the transformation of an unregenerate heart to one that is made new.
Just a few blocks from our home there was a fire in the home of a friend of ours, Don Trosper. From the outside it seemed to have little noticeable damage. But as the insurance adjusters made their way through the fire damage they came to the conclusion that it would cost more to repair the damage than to demolish and start all over to build a new house.
Their conclusion was that if you try to remodel a fire-damaged house, you end up with a patch-work dwelling that is neither old nor new. Wow! Read that once again and see if it applies to those who “claim” to have been saved, but who still live in that same old shack that has never been transformed into something new.
Is it any wonder that people of the world are repulsed by anything to do with
Christianity when they see those who claim to have a relationship with Jesus, yet are no different than others?
God does not want us to paint-up or fix-up our miserable, sinful life—He wants us to become a new creation. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, that we MUST be born again. We are to be a new creation, not a remodeled one.
That old house that Don Trosper and his family had lived in is now gone. It was demolished and even the foundation was bulldozed. But guess what?! There are signs that a new work is in progress. A new house will soon stand where the old house once stood. It will be at the same location—same address—but it will be a new house.
Do you live in the same old dilapidated and sinful body that you have occupied all of your life? It is time for major demolition! We do this by confessing our sins and throwing ourselves at the feet of the cross and having His blood applied to our sins. It is only then that we can observe that old sinful things have passed away and a new life in Christ emerges.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 15, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:9-10
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
When I was in college I served on the police force of a small Idaho city. We had a municipal court judge in the city who had lost an arm in an accident caused by a drunk driver when he was just a teenager. The judge often rode along with police officers at night who were on patrol.
From time to time an offender would appear before him charged with an offense. The offender would claim to be innocent of the charges made by the arresting officer.
I can still recall the scene when the judge would ask: “What would you say about your claim of innocence if I told you I was riding in the car with the officer at the time of your arrest?” The guilty man would usually hang his head and plead guilty.
In today’s Scripture, Paul speaks about the Judgment Seat of Christ. Without going into too much detail, let me say that there will be two judgments. One for those whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life and the other for the lost.
There will be a time when each of us will stand to be judged. I want to be included with those who are believers. Even so, we are told that we must give an account of what we have done or left undone. Not only that, our Judge is “riding in the patrol car” and witnesses our every action. I pray that we will receive rewards from our Lord and hear Him say: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 14, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
We never know how close we are to eternity! In 1953 I had completed basic training in California and was being transported to Texas. Approximately fifty of us were flying on an older model military transport plane—an old one! It was left over from World War II.
One of the flight crew notified us that we would be making a stop in New Mexico. As we landed, one of the two propellers stopped. We were stranded there for several hours while the necessary repairs were made. One of the mechanics happened to mention that it was fortunate we were near the airbase when the trouble hit. Yikes!
I haven’t thought about that incident for years. Thinking about it now I realize that we could very easily have crashed, and I would have been ushered into eternity! I have had other close calls that reveal to me that we are just a heartbeat from eternity!
All of us walk through life on borrowed time. Unfortunately we are prone to behave as if all that mattered was this vale of tears. We cling onto life with our every breath and scream bloody murder at the thought of our death—for what? Not for what we can do for the Lord or to serve Him, but just to live a little longer.
I want to live in such a way that others will see Christ in me. Not only did Paul express his commitment to live only for Christ, he demonstrated it by the way he lived. If ever there was an example of a sold-out Christian life, it was the apostle Paul. Let me close for today with Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:20: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 13, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:1-3
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.”
I enjoy hearing people talk about what they do. I recall listening to fighter pilots talk about the thrill of combat and how close they came to death. I have been enthralled by the stories of the deep sea fishermen in Newfoundland. Police officers share with other officers interesting, sometimes dangerous, incidents.
The apostle Paul was a tent-maker by trade. I can almost visualize his calloused fingers and hands. They would almost certainly have been the marks from years of stretching and stitching the fabric to create or repair tents.
In today’s Scripture, Paul uses his profession as a tent-maker to illustrate a spiritual truth: This human body of ours is not going to survive. There are those who try to reverse the aging process in various ways, but nothing is going to keep us from coming to the end of our life and entering eternity.
It is sad that most of us spend far too much time and effort on things that will pass away. By spending so much time on earthly things we neglect the things that really count—those things that have eternal value.
Spending time with God in prayer and reading His Word will prepare us for that heavenly home that will never pass away. What home are you spending your time and effort to build?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 10, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Back in the 1970’s I seemed to have it made. I was Deputy Director of the Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission. The position paid well and I was offered a similar position with a Federal agency. But God had other plans for me.
I felt God’s call and took a part-time position with my home church. The pay was less and the hours longer, but it was God’s call and I could only obey. Since that time I have felt weak and inadequate, but it is in those times that I have most felt the power of God. It was not what I did, but what God did through me.
There was a time in my life when I felt that retirement was something to look forward to. I passed retirement age many years ago and now my ministry is more fruitful than when I was young and strong.
Why is that? I think the answer is that it is not my strength or ability, but God flowing through me. The less I am able to do, the more He is able to do through me. “Do you follow me?”
If you feel too weak or too inadequate to do work for the Lord—start praising the Lord. That is when His power and glory can be displayed. It is when we are weak that His strength is revealed! Thank God for the difficulties and watch Him work!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
