by Pastor Cecil | Feb 22, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 19:13-14
“Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
February 19th became a very special date when my ninth great grandchild was born. It was one of my greatest of joys to hold a baby just a few hours old and pray God’s special blessings on her life.
Whenever I hear about the birth of a baby it brings to mind a young man who was in a Bible Study group I was leading. Different members of the group were recalling the events that led to them accepting Jesus as their personal Savior.
This young father related how he had rushed his wife to the hospital to deliver their first child. He knew she was in terrible pain, but was totally unprepared when the doctor came out of the delivery room and informed him that there was a problem and that he should be prepared to comfort his wife when she was told the baby died.
It was the middle of the night and he was the only one in the waiting area. As he paced back and forth it dawned on him that his baby would go to be with Jesus and as an unbeliever he would never see his son. It was then that he opened his heart and invited the Lord to come in. By the way – the baby survived!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 8, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 8:34
“And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.”
Picture the scene: Jesus had just released two men who had been under the power of demons. They were now set free! The men must have been rejoicing with Jesus and His disciples about how free they felt. They now had new life and a new hope. Jesus had done what no other power on earth could do!
In their demon-possessed state they had been rejected by the community because of their violent behavior. Now that they were delivered they must have wanted to tell their friends and family the good news, but they just had to spend more time talking with Jesus. Before they could leave, the villagers came out to them. Instead of rejoicing with the healed men they were angry. The men who had tended the swine had rushed into town to complain that the swine had perished.
Not only did the people refuse to celebrate the miraculous healing of these men who had been demon possessed, they demanded that Jesus leave them alone. That is very similar to the way some sinners treat Jesus in our own day. Sometimes people become so comfortable in the sin of indifference that they demand to be left alone. They REJECT the Lord who offers them eternal salvation in order to remain in their perceived comfort zone. They fail to see they reject their own salvation.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 7, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 28:12-14
“When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, ‘Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.”
Having spent over twelve years in the military, there is one thing I learned well — you do not receive rewards for sleeping on duty. If the disciples had in fact stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb, no cover-up would have been necessary. Why did the elders intervene and pay the guards bribe money to say they had fallen asleep? They must have known the guards had not been negligent in their duty, or no hush money would have been offered.
If they had seriously believed that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus, there would have been a massive investigation and a search for the body of Jesus. Why were they not concerned about searching for it? They knew that Jesus had risen from the tomb just as He said He would!
Why did they pay up to have the guards shut up? The answer is very clear. Any public exposure would have affirmed that He had risen, so they devised a lie to cover the truth. They even placed themselves in jeopardy with Pilate by agreeing to cover for these guards. The very act of the cover up goes a long way in proving that Jesus rose from the grave. Which story do you believe?!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 31, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 14:25
“Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.”
The fourth watch of the night is the darkest, but it is also the watch that observes the appearance of dawn. For those of us who have worked the “graveyard shift,” it is the most boring, but also the most delightful. It is when you see the first streaks of dawn, the rim of gold on the eastern horizon, and the burst of light when the sun rises to begin its journey for the day.
The disciples of Jesus knew what stormy weather on the water was like. They had perhaps even feared for their lives in previous storms. Now they experienced total shock — Jesus was walking on the water toward their boat!
Peter had fished those very waters and no doubt had been in storms like this before. But never had he experienced someone walking on the water. It was his Lord, and he no longer felt afraid. In fact, he wanted to go to Jesus on the water. Peter was the only man besides Jesus who walked on water. Taking his eyes off the Lord and fearing the water caused him to begin to sink, but when he took the Master’s hand he once again walked on the water to the boat.
When you are laboring in the darkest watch of your personal night, you may feel stark terror. Remember, you are not alone. Jesus is there in the darkness, ready to keep you from sinking. Our only problem is looking at the water instead of the Master who is walking on the water. When we focus our attention on Him, He will keep us from sinking!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 30, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 6:14
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Forgiveness is something that is much easier to talk about than to put into practice. We are not perfect and much of the time we did something that created the situation that caused the other person to hurt us … or take advantage of us … or not meet our needs … well, you get the idea.
Many years ago I heard the story about a man that had been unfaithful to his wife. She caught him in his indiscretion and tore into him like a wild wolverine. The betrayed wife took her unfaithful husband back, but made his life miserable from that point on. She did many mean and nasty things to him, always reminded him that it was payback time and dug her spurs in ever harder.
After many years the wife developed a serious medical problem. Her husband stayed close beside her and nursed her back to health. After she had recovered, she called her husband to her side and told him that he had paid his price and that she would now forgive him. To her shock and dismay, he said, “No, you have not forgiven me, I have earned it. You failed to give it when I needed it the most.”
How sad that we fail to understand forgiveness. GODLY FORGIVENESS NEEDS TO BE GIVEN WHEN THE PERSON BEING FORGIVEN DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE FORGIVEN!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 29, 2018 | Matthew
Matthew 19:1
“But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
I make no bones about loving babies and it absolutely crushes me to think of all the millions and millions of babies killed by abortion. I remember when our children were babies. (It has been a long time.) Joyce was always the perfect mother and insisted that they be fed only what the pediatrician said babies should have: milk, baby cereal, and canned baby food. Yuk!!
I was usually the one to push the envelope of what was acceptable. I, in my infinite wisdom, just naturally knew that God intended for babies to have mashed potatoes and gravy. Many times I was chastised for feeding these wonderful foods to the babies, but it was a secret between the babies and me … and they loved it! From that to more and more solid food until they became teens and ate us out of house and home.
Many people attend church weekly (some very seldom), and seem to feel that they are getting all of the spiritual nourishment they need. LISTEN! There is no way that I, or any other minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, can give you enough in one or two sermons to get you through the week. I have seen the saying many times: A week without church attendance makes one weak. We need that time in worship and hearing the Word proclaimed, but it will never be enough to bring us to spiritual maturity. We need a daily diet of spiritual food.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
