by Pastor Cecil | Aug 17, 2016 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 12:8-9
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Why do bad things happen to good people? Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever prayed for God to answer your prayer for a specific thing and fail to see it answered? If so, join the crowd. As parents of three young children, we often heard their pleas for one thing or another. They would try every trick in the book in an attempt to get their parents to relent. There were times when we decided that it would be okay to grant their requests, but at other times we had to refuse.
Why did we refuse? It was not that we did not love them. Of course we did. Was it because we wanted to see them suffer? Of course not! Why did we turn a silent ear to their pleas? Simply because we felt that it was for their welfare not to grant the request.
They might not see it at the time, and in fact, they may never know fully why we turned a deaf ear. We knew and sometimes it was better not to let them know the reasons. That is the way it is with God. He knows what lies ahead and when He fails to grant our request, we need to trust Him. His grace is sufficient!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 18, 2016 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 7:1
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
A message of holiness is generally not popular in our modern world. I guess most people feel they are pretty good and have no need to hear a call to clean up our act and live holy lives.
In this feel-good society we place the stress on creature pleasures. Over and over I have heard people refuse to commit their life to Christ because they want to enjoy the pleasures of sin. They want to wait until they have fully satisfied their lusts and then they will be interested in getting right with God. BEEP!
Two thoughts always come to mind in response. First is the reality that these so-called pleasures are not all they are cracked up to be. The most miserable people I have ever met are victims of what they once called pleasure. Now their lives have become a living nightmare. Often they are too ashamed to turn to God.
The second observation is that none of us know how long we have to live. These human bodies of ours are absolutely amazing. Our critical organs can function over long periods of time, but just as true, they can experience catastrophic failure at a moment’s notice and we will be in eternity. I WANT TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 17, 2016 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
It is fascinating to see an old abused item renewed and made whole once again. I recall a friend years ago who found an old derelict car that was so rusted out it seemed impossible to do anything with it.
I was wrong. Several years later I returned to the area and was invited to assist my friend in loading that old wreck into a truck to transport it to an auto show. I could not believe that he would want to take that hunk of junk anywhere but to the wrecking yard!
Then I saw it. Wow! What a transformation! It looked better than it did when it originally came off the assembly line. IT HAD BEEN RENEWED! My friend’s hands had created something beautiful! It was his handiwork.
In the same way, God wants to take the old wrecks of our lives and renew them into things of beauty that will show forth His handiwork.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 8, 2015 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
A few days ago I received a get well card. When I saw the name on the return address, my mind flew back many years ago. I was teaching a Sunday school class of young professional men and women. We had been spending a considerable amount of time on thanking God for every circumstance in our life when this young woman raised her hand to ask a question that has rattled my cage ever since: “Have you ever experienced the beauty of pain?”
She explained that she had fallen while riding her bike on the way to work. The pain was intense and, as she looked down at her knee, blood was flowing freely. She was almost ready to cry when she thought of what I had been teaching in that class. Immediately she thanked God for the circumstance even though she had no idea why she would pray something like this.
Immediately after her prayer an amazing thing took place. It was as if all the members of her body were speaking to each other. They were calling out to be very careful since one of the members was injured. The other leg took most of the strain, but the arms and the torso also tried to ease the injured member of her body.
After all these years I feel that this young woman accomplished far more by her illustration than my weeks of teaching had accomplished. The thought occurs to me that there are many injured members in our body. Rather than ignore them, we need to make every effort to ease their load.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 13, 2015 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:6
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
A dear friend wrote me about a project she and her husband had been working on. It involved dismantling an old building and saving the wood for special projects. Her husband was talking to a contractor about lighting a shed that had never had light in it before. The man mentioned that it might not be a good idea, which seemed strange. He went on to explain that once there was light in the shed it would reveal things that needed attention.
What a spiritual revelation this is! When the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines in the heart and soul of an individual, there are things revealed that need to be corrected. This is one of the important reasons for spending time in God’s Word and prayer.
I was just watching a spacewalk on the International Space Station traveling some 250 miles above the earth. The two spacewalkers had several very important projects to be completed in their six hour spacewalk. It was interesting to note that the lights on their helmets illuminated only a small area. One of them remarked that they would have to wait until the space station came into daylight in order for them to be able to see clearly.
Let’s face it. We live in a dark world! Day by day sin becomes more and more prevalent and darkness surrounds us. The longer we ignore our need of spiritual light, the more difficult it is to see things clearly. As we open up the dark recesses of our life and spend time with the Lord in order to light our darkness, we will see things we have never seen before — things that need to be removed and cleansed! TURN ON GOD’S LIGHT!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 13, 2015 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:6-7
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
Back when I was in graduate school at Central Missouri State University, I took a class in archeology. One of the assignments was to work on a mound that had been constructed hundreds of years ago. Finds at the site sometimes revealed a few broken shards of pottery. The next step was to search for any fragments from what had been stored inside. A few bone fragments would lead to the conclusion that the jar had been used to store meat.
Underwater archeology has discovered clay pots used to transport oil, wine, or other food substances from as far back as the time of Christ or even before. Clay pots were never thought to be more valuable than what was inside.
This is especially true in the spiritual sense. Our human bodies may be likened to clay pots. Some of our pots are larger than others and we may even be said to have a “pot” belly . . . but that is a different matter altogether.
When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, it does not matter what our vessel may look like. It is the treasure inside that counts. We need to constantly be aware that we are carrying a precious treasure within us. We need to live aware of it!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
