by Pastor Cecil | Jun 26, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 12:50
“For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
My great fear is that there are many who consider themselves to be a part of the family of God who are not. Jesus’ own brothers were not a part of His spiritual family until they accepted Him as their personal Savior.
There are people today who think of themselves as being a member of God’s family because their parents had them baptized as infants. In my Bible there is no such thing as salvation imparted to infants! Salvation is by God’s grace and our faith — rational, understanding acceptance by one who has reached the age of accountability. It is the act of turning from our natural sinful nature and receiving Jesus Christ.
Are you a member of God’s family? If you have never invited Him to come into your heart, you are still on the outside. You are not one of His family. Come on in! You will love our family!
“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 18, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 23:27
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
I think it was when I was 16 years old that I owned my first car. It was an old 1935 Chevy sedan that actually looked older than it really was (if that was possible). The black paint had oxidized and there were rust spots here and there, but it was mine!
You can imagine that I received many snide comments from my friends about my car, but it drove like a dream. Joyce was my sweetheart and she never looked down on me because of the way that old car looked.
We finally decided to do something about the old Chevy’s appearance. I remember going to the paint store with Joyce. We requested car paint and were directed to a wall displaying paints of various colors. We decided on a light gray. After sanding the old car, Joyce’s dad gave me a paint brush with very soft bristles. The paint seemed to flow on and you could not see brush marks at all. When I returned to the paint store to buy a small can of blue paint to add a stripe, they could not believe the paint was brushed on. They said I must have sprayed it on.
I say all of this to remind us that that it was the same old car … just with a new paint job! In the same way there are people who try to cover their ugly condition with a new “paint job,” but underneath they are the same as before. Which are you?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – 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
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 26, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 5:16
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
When I was a boy there was a man in our church who attracted all of us kids to him. As I recall, his name was Vanoy Croswell. He was a happy and radiant Christian who loved people and especially kids. But that was not what appealed to us. HE WAS THE SEN-SEN MAN!
Sen-Sen was (and still is) a breath freshener. It is tiny squares made of hard licorice. I went online and discovered that it can still be purchased today, usually in small packets. Previously it was available in more convenient small cardboard boxes. Similar to a matchbox of the time, an inner box slid out from a cardboard sleeve revealing a small hole from which the tiny Sen-Sen squares would fall when the box was shaken.
It really did not take very much to attract the kids to him, and it gave him an opportunity to tell us about Jesus. We discovered that his generous spirit went far beyond the tiny pieces of sweets that he doled out to us. That was just his way of giving himself an opportunity to share.
In today’s Scripture Jesus says that we are to let our light shine in such a way that as others see the good that we do they will be drawn to glorify our Father in heaven. In what way are you drawing people to you in order to tell them about Jesus?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 9, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 6:27
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
True Christian character is certainly seen in our biblical heroes, but it may often be seen in those of more recent times. Hope is a character quality that looks beyond our immediate circumstances and shows what we as believers have waiting for us.
In the Sweet By and By is one of the most enduring songs written after the Civil War. It was composed by Sanford Bennett who was the owner of a drugstore in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. He had just returned from the war. A friend, Joseph Webster, a gifted musician trained formally in composition, came to the store each day to talk and play chess. Often Webster would be depressed and down.
When asked what was wrong, Webster would often reply; “It will be alright by and by.” That idea hit Bennett like a flash of sunlight! As Bennett later described the incident, he took out a pen and it was all over in thirty minutes. A new hymn was born. In short order he was singing the words along with Webster and two other friends. That hymn was perfect for the post-Civil War era because it conveyed pathos with a mixture of comforting warmth. It came to typify the virtues of spiritual hope.
Sweet By and By
There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way,
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
Chorus: In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beautiful shore,
The melodious songs of the blest;
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.
Chorus: In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise,
For the glorious gift of His love,
And the blessings that hallow our days.
Chorus: In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
Enjoy this free inspirational video from Gloryscapes.com by going to: http://gloryscapes.com/sweetbyandby/
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil
