by Pastor Cecil | Jun 5, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Mark 10:13-16
“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”
Let me start today’s E-Votional by describing our group of believers that gather on Sunday mornings. It is a small group of people that seldom attended church, or for some reason were not comfortable in traditional churches.
We use the pattern of worship for the early believers as described in Acts 2:42. There is the teaching of God’s Word, prayer, breaking of bread and fellowship. It is a very family oriented and relaxed as we search God’s Word and apply the teachings to our life.
Two weeks ago we were in an interesting discussion of what a passage meant when I noticed a small 18 month old girl with a pacifier in her mouth, standing directly in front of me and looking up. She raised her hands up to me, so being my grandfatherly sort, I picked her up. She immediately laid her face against my cheek and totally relaxed as we continued discussing the meaning of passages and how they apply to us.
Since then I have thought about how Jesus had responded to the small children who broke into His teaching ministry. He was not upset at the parents or children who crowded around Him, but at His disciples who tried to push them away. “When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.” That means that our Lord was very displeased with the disciples.
I absolutely adore kids and delight in teaching them about Jesus. According to our Scripture for today, that is what Jesus wants us to do. It may be a bit here or a bit there—or even holding a wee girl in the middle of my message—but we all should care for the children.
One of our mothers called last week to express her concern about how to protect children from being harmed. She told me of a program that equips parents, grandparents or other caregivers to keep children safe.
There are children of all ages around us. Some may be young in years while others may be young spiritually. We call them “baby Christians.” The sad thing is that baby Christians may have received a spiritual birth years and years ago, but just never grew up. Part of that may be our fault because we never took the time to stop and share Jesus with them.
My prayer is that we will open our eyes and see that we have a world of children around us who are holding up their hands. They may have a pacifier in their mouth, begging us to hold them close and tell them about Jesus. Will you respond to them?
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 4, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Genesis 3:22-24
“Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of a man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
You no doubt have heard the joke about the man who was speaking to an acquaintance on the street. He told his friend, “My wife and I have had 30 happy years of marriage. Out of 43, that is not too bad!” Unfortunately, that is too often the case. It should not be. God has established the marriage relationship to be a uniting of two people into one flesh.
I am continuing on with the consideration of God’s view of marriage. I just want to refresh our memory that we are in the process of contrasting the emotional desires of man and the absolute mandates of God. It is a dangerous area, since the safe thing humanly speaking is to say words, and give counsel, that will make people feel good and justify what they are doing. I would much rather be accused of being true to the Word of God, than to espouse a false doctrine that may be described as a “feel good about it” doctrine.
We hear terms bantered around to describe marriage: Getting hitched, tying the knot, walking the aisle, etc., none of which give the proper concept of the two becoming one. God never intended that two people merely live in the same home and try their very best to get along — most of the time. God’s design was for the two to become one flesh.
There are two adjectives used in the Scripture in Genesis to describe this act of becoming one flesh: LEAVE and UNITED. It was important then and it is important now, that the two leave their former home, parents – even children of previous marriages, and be united to each other. I hear screams of protest. It is okay to scream, but after your tantrum is over, read what God says and then start thinking in a logical manner.
Couples that fail to leave the nest, become dependent on parents to do for them what they are told to do for themselves. It is a part of maturing. Going through the trials of too many expenses and too little resources, will teach lessons that bind the two hearts together. Children of previous marriages are capable of causing such havoc, that conflicts seem to never cease.
I am sure you have heard the old cliché, “Your kids and my kids are beating up on our kids – what are you going to do about it?” It calls for unity and the two marriage partners being one flesh in dealing with the issues of life. Only the couple, husband and wife, are one flesh. The parents and children of the couple are outside of that intimate relationship. Together they must deal with the problems that arise.
Many years ago in Nampa, Idaho, the Senior Pastor Chuck Higgins and I did almost all of the marriage counseling for a very large church. We often laughed that it seemed like half of those we counseled cried their eyes out because they were not married, and the other half cried their eyes out because they were!
How do we reconcile the obvious difficulties, which exist, when two people, from different homes, backgrounds, traditions and temperaments—“become one flesh.” It is well to consider that in Biblical times, marriages were arranged. Their fathers mandated the two who were to become one flesh, in that relationship. In that context, Paul tells the husband to love his wife in the way Christ loved the church, and gave His life for her. That means a death of self in order to make his wife feel cherished and nurtured. The wife was to acknowledge her husband’s position as the head of the home by honoring and respecting him.
I have counseled scores of couples, and have heard all of the arguments, so please receive this observation. Where one or both parties rebel against God’s design, there is unhappiness, strife and often divorce. On the other hand, those who come under the authority of God’s design, more often, find contentment and fulfillment. Doing things God’s way always brings us the greatest happiness.
I want to leave this subject with a personal testimonial. Joyce and I have been sweethearts since we were fourteen. We were married at age eighteen, and that was almost 56 years ago. We followed God’s principles before marriage, and for you who wonder what that means, (no pre-marital intimacy). We are so much in love with each other that we can hardly stand to be apart for even short periods of time. We are very much a living example of being one flesh. It can be done!
I have great love for all of you. I would never hurt you by words or actions. I would be hurting you if I advocated any type of behavior, which was in conflict with God’s Word. You may disagree with me, but please, I beg of you, do not disagree with His Word.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 3, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Genesis 3:22-24
“Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of a man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
Here we are in the month of June—the month that is usually associated with weddings. If there is any one subject that I receive questions about—it is that dealing with marriage. I will try to answer a few of the questions I have received and will try to provide counsel based upon the Word of God. Since there have been numerous questions, I will write this in a general manner, and not specifically directed to individuals. Are you ready? Here we go! Fasten your seat belts; we are expecting some turbulence! Just kidding.
First of all, let me point out that some people have made unwise choices, and are in a position they wish they were not in. I only wish that every couple could have as wonderful a marriage as Joyce and I. On July 10th we will be celebrating our 56th anniversary.
Some of you are in the contemplative stage of marriage, while some of you have made the decision and are now dealing with the consequences. I hope this Daily-E-Votional will be of assistance regardless of your marital status. There may be some of you who feel this is nothing that you are dealing with, so it does not apply to you. Please retain this information as there may be an opportunity to share it with someone who asks you for marital advice.
We live in a day where emotions seem to control our life. We are driven by the impulse to “feel good.” If we do not feel good, we throw out the things we think make us feel bad, and grab hold of something new that we think will make us feel good. Today’s topic is marriage, but allowing emotions to control us can apply to other areas as well.
In the traditional marriage, we are struck with the words: “FOR AS LONG AS WE BOTH SHALL LIVE.” It has been suggested that in many marriage relationships some have modified the vow to: “FOR AS LONG AS WE BOTH SHALL LOVE.” What makes the difference? The answer is the Word of God. It is unfortunate that even Christian couples can base their relationship on the shaky foundation of emotions, rather than upon the Word of God. They start out with great expectations, and end up in the junkyard of shattered promises.
Marriage is a covenant relationship. It is more than a contract that may be broken by one or both parties, through legal means. It is a covenant that binds the two parties into a lifetime union, not a sometime union.
Old Testament covenants were sealed in the presence of a blood sacrifice. The two who were entering into the covenant, would kill an animal and place a half on each side of the path. The two making the covenant would then join hands and walk between the two pieces. They would say in unison; “May it be to me, as to this animal, if ever I break this covenant.” Wow! That should teach us a vital lesson about the significance of a covenant relationship. It is not to be taken lightly, nor broken at the convenience or desires of either party.
I have hardly taken a breath, and I feel there is much more that needs to be shared on this topic. I will draw this to a close for today, but I plan to continue on with it tomorrow. If you have someone you feel would like to be added to our list, please have them send me an e-mail requesting to be added. Please feel free to share these Daily-E-Votionals with those in your address book.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 2, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Revelation 3:1-3
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
In this passage, the Lord is speaking. He is speaking not merely to a first century church, but also to the churches of our day. Keep in mind that the church is not the structure made with wood, brick, stone, or other building materials. A church is composed of the people of God who come together as a body, for worship, fellowship, service and edification.
I want to walk very carefully here, as I express the words that God is laying on my heart at this very moment. We often think of a dead church as being stuffy, stilted, formal, and boring. That is all too often the case, but it goes much deeper than that. A dead church may also be filled with noise, activity, and even spiritual sounding terminology.
So what determines if a church is alive or dead? Let’s focus in a little closer. What determines if you are spiritually alive or dead? One of the typical responses is the word, “them.” “They are dead! He or she is dead! I, or we, on the other hand, am practically perfect in every way!” Such an idea, filled with self-sufficient pride, should be a dead giveaway of our spiritual morbidity (death).
We are spiritually dead, or near death, when we no longer have a spiritual appetite. If there is not a hunger in our hearts for God’s pure Word—we had better check our spiritual pulse immediately!
Unfortunately, there are church members (or church attendees) who are more interested in the hymn selections, how long the service lasts, color of the carpet, etc., than they are about meeting with God. They fail to cherish a time to shut out the world and listen to His Word read and proclaimed, lift their hearts in prayer, and join with others of His family weekly, for a spiritual family reunion.
We are in need of spiritual emergency care if we do not have daily—YES! I SAID DAILY— times of intimate conversation with God. Not just praying a want list of our requests, but sharing our deep feelings of praise and petition. Of being silent with Him in order to hear His soft, still voice speaking words of comfort and purpose to us.
There needs to be times of reading God’s Word and taking the time to meditate about what the words mean and visualizing what is being said. We need to take God’s words that we are reading, and pray them back to God.
I hope you are beginning to see that death in our midst is not easily covered up with the perfume of programs, practice or pretense. God sees the real us and desires more than, “Let’s pretend.” It is time to have a complete spiritual examination. As the Lord dictated this letter to the church in Sardis, and said they were dead, what would He say about us? Do we need to be resuscitated? If so, He stands ready to raise us from our dead condition, and breathe His new life into us.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | May 30, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
As a former Juvenile Probation Officer, I have heard many sob stories. By that I mean that I have seen and heard many juvenile offenders cry about being caught and brought before the court. The truth is that they were sorry they were caught—not for their offense. Just the same, there were consequences for their actions.
The modern mindset seems to deny that there are consequences for sinful actions. Such thinking is totally untrue. Our sinful actions always bear bitter fruit. Read what Paul writes in Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
I fear that this old sin sick world is reaping a terrible harvest. Joyce Blume has written the following poem and has given me permission to share it with you:
“America In The Twilight” by Joyce L. Blume
America may be in the twilight of it’s glory,
One, can feel the apprehension everywhere.
You can see it in the eyes of everyone,
Yes, even when they speak , it’s there.
Our beautiful world is getting beaten down,
With, so much violence in the streets and in the air.
Our children seem to be in such distress,
And the concern for this, is getting rare.
The turbulent weather is trying hard to clean things up,
It has hit on almost every earthly shore,
Great earthquakes, floods and stormy weather,
Seems to say, “Wake-up, for I’m trouble, knocking on your door.”
It seems that punishment is all that’s left,
For, God has blessed and you did not seem to heed,
His great Churches, He has built in every town,
So that everyone could come and spiritually feed.
But for His Written Word, His food, you have no taste,
You throw it out, and replace it with your likes.
You tear it all apart with your demands,
And have changed it and took away its rights.
Oh, beautiful America, wake up, and turn around,
For God is not blind, and watches you.
He has His watchful eye, both day and night,
And He sees and hears, everything you do.
It seems as though your time is almost spent,
Could it be the last hour of your day,
Has He sent the stormy weather and the sea,
To try and clean up your messy way!
America, could this be the twilight of your glory?
Could the end of your great blessings be near?
You have allowed false religions to take command,
And from your God, have let them turn away your fear.
For the fear of God, is the beginning of His wisdom,
So be wise and turn away from your sins.
Or, more stormy weather will come your way,
Yes, the twilight of America’s Glory, just begins.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | May 29, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Matthew 6:7-10
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ “
Do we really know how to pray? You may know, but after 60+ years as a born-again Christian, I am still struggling. I hope you are not disappointed in me, but that is the honest truth. I hear people who pray beautiful prayers, but I still struggle. Perhaps it will help to talk about it today.
When Jesus gave His pattern for prayer, here in Matthew 6, and also in Luke 11, we notice that the prayer starts out with the words; “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” I think that it is far too easy for us to pray; “Our Father in heaven, give me what I want!”
What did I just write—give me what I want? How does that differ from the pure pattern that Jesus taught? As I see it, God’s way has the focus on the Lord and our way has the focus on ourselves. We are pretty self-centered little rascals (or big rascals).
In the verse before Jesus’ pattern for prayer, He teaches that the Father knows what our needs are before we ask Him. That reminds me of Psalm 139:1-4: “O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.”
If that is the case (and it is), why do I spend so much of the time in prayer trying to inform the Lord about the details of my request? Perhaps it is for my benefit, not the Lord’s. Remember that when Jesus was here on earth He asked people with obvious infirmities what they wanted Him to do for them, even when it was obvious. Why? I think it was in order for them to realize that they had a problem that only He could heal. Chew on that for awhile.
One of the most striking things about the Lord’s Prayer is that it focuses our attention on praise. I think we usually spend more time asking than praising. When Jesus uses the words; “Hallowed be Your name” He is showing us a vital truth.
I looked up the meaning of the word “hallowed” in the Greek. It is the word, hagiazō. Here are a few of the nuances of what it means: “To venerate; to separate from profane things and dedicate to God. To purify internally by purifying the soul.”
As I read the depth of meaning in this one word, I realize that most of our prayer time must be dedicated to our own purification. We must examine ourselves to see if there is anything that separates us from our God. If there is, we must confess it to Him in order that He may recognize the sincere desire of our heart.
Let me close with 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Perhaps we can learn more about the discipline of prayer.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
