by Pastor Cecil | May 4, 2009 | Proverbs
Proverbs 1:1-4
“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion.”
Imagine that you are sitting in a magnificent concert hall. Suddenly a performer enters and sits at a grand piano. After a few minutes the piano seems to come alive with music that fills the entire hall and applause greets the end of the concert. You happen to be the last one in the hall and hesitantly approach the piano. As you sit facing the keyboard, you begin to play. The sound is utterly discordant. What is the difference?
Let’s try to picture a scene from the Winter Olympics. A skater performs leaps and spins that bring the spectators to their feet with a mighty roar. Later you decide to seek out an ice arena and after renting a pair of skates venture onto the ice. Your upright position soon is changed into an embarrassing flop. You know the reason.
The reason for failure to be accomplished in a particular field is the lack of discipline. A person must begin with the simple—rudimentary tasks before progressing to the next. After hours, days, weeks and years of disciplined devotion to the task, competence is reached.
What is true for a musician or athlete is true in our spiritual life. We are not born spiritually with knowledge and maturity, it is essential that we spend considerable time in Bible study, prayer and practical ministry in order to reach spiritual maturity.
Professional musicians and athletes understand that even though they perform on a regular basis, they need to regularly go back to the basics in order to be at their best at all times. How about you? Are you disciplined to be the best disciple that the Lord wants you to be?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 31, 2009 | Proverbs
Proverbs 4:19-22
“The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. My son, give attention to My words; Incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.”
We are rapidly approaching the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. In our church we call it Resurrection Sunday. Unfortunately most people call it Easter. Why on earth would I make a statement like that? Let me tell you why.
The word “pascha” mistranslated “Easter” in Acts 12:4, AV, denotes the Passover (RV). The phrase “after the Passover” signifies after the whole festival was at an end. The term “Easter” is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven.
The pagan festival of “Easter” was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity.
What is the significance of the Easter Bunny? Both the Easter egg and the Easter bunny symbolize fertility and new life. Celebrating fertility is very much a pagan tradition. It is obvious why the egg symbolizes fertility, and if you remember the expression “they breed like rabbits”, then you will also see why the bunny rabbit symbolizes fertility — rabbits breed prolifically.
How sad that we have followed a tradition with a name associated with a pagan goddess that led God’s people away from the true God and into idolatry. I urge you to join with me and others in two weeks, on April 12th as we celebrate RESURRECTION DAY! HE IS RISEN!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 13, 2009 | Proverbs
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
When you come to the end of yourself—it is the time to come to Jesus. It often occurs when we lose someone or something that is precious to us. In the dark night of our soul, Jesus is the light!
We must demonstrate such a trust and dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will feel Him holding us in His loving arms when we pass through the valley of the shadow of death.
In 1879, Louisa M.R. Stead was happily married and the mother of a four year old daughter. The small family was enjoying a pleasant picnic along the sea shore when a call for help was heard. They spotted a boy drowning in the sea.
Mr. Stead charged into the water in an attempt to save the lad. In his panic the boy pulled his rescuer below the waves where they both perished in clear view of Louisa and her daughter. In her time of grief, Louisa penned the words of the familiar hymn, ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
(1) ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word, Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ ”
CHORUS: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more.
(2) How I love to trust in Jesus, Just to trust His cleansing blood, Just in simple faith to plunge me, ‘Neath the healing, cleansing flood! CHORUS:
(3) Yes, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, And from sin and self to cease. Now from Jesus simply taking, life and rest and joy and peace. CHORUS:
(4) I’m so glad I learned to trust Him, precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; And I know that He is with me, He’ll be with me to the end. CHORUS:
To access ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, this week’s free inspirational video from GloryScapes.com, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/tissosweettotrustinjesus 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 | Jan 5, 2009 | Proverbs
Proverbs 3:5-7
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.”
Have you ever been lost? I have. Not just once, but several times. I have been lost on a hunting trip, making the wrong turn on a highway and a few other times I will not go into detail to explain.
Now it is not as if I lack a sense of direction. I was able to find the headstones of my grandparents that I had not visited since I was a boy of about eight. I could find our old family home when even my dad and brother could not locate it after a freeway had dissected the area and things were much different.
I can recall having a part-time job during my high school years. It was for a dairy, and sometimes involved delivering milk door-to-door on an unfamiliar route. The way I could do it was by a direction code. Turn left was coded TL. Turn right was coded TR. If you are going to cross intersection(s) without turning you would code it with the number of streets and an X. I still use that code from time to time.
Do you know what strikes me at this moment? Without the route book I would have been in an impossible situation. It told me how to get to a particular customer and what they had ordered. The same concept is true concerning our spiritual life. God’s Word is our “order book” to give us direction and what to do when we get there. Brilliant!
Most of our problems arise when we fail to read the directions or when we do our own thing when we get God’s order wrong. STOP! Be honest and admit how many times you have failed to consult God and His Word before you acted?
When you found yourself lost and undone did you blame God for the mess you found yourself in? It’s getting uncomfortable isn’t it? Just remember that this is directed at me just as much (possibly more) than you.
So what are we expected to do? Just read and re-read today’s Scripture. There are several key steps that instruct us: We are to “TRUST God with all of our heart.” We are not to “lean on our own UNDERSTANDING” “In all of our ways we are to “ACKNOWLEDGE Him!” I love the promise God gives when we do this: HE WILL MAKE OUR PATHS STRAIGHT!
Solomon gives us three final words of admonition: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” In reply to the question and theme of today’s E-Votional: “WHICH WAY?” the question seems very clear: GOD’S WAY!!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 28, 2008 | Colossians, Proverbs
Proverbs 16: 18-20
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.”
I have many embarrassing moments in my life. Years ago I was teaching a class of young professionals. It was deep and profound biblical truth and the class seemed to be very interested in everything I was saying. That is until I noticed that they were not looking on my face, but down at my feet.
Finally one of the young women raised her hand to ask a question. “Yes, Dorinda,” I said. In trepidation she asked, “Is there a reason you are wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe?” I dreaded looking down knowing that in my haste I had made a blunder. The class exploded in laughter at my expense. I finally recovered and told them “As strange as it may seem—I have another pair at home just like this pair!”
One of the things I have learned from these “red faced” situations is that pride needs to be dealt a blow. It is hard to act proud and aloof when you have on one brown shoe and one black one.
I earnestly pray that the Lord will continue to bring the “shoes” into my life any time I start to think more of myself than I ought. Colossians 1:25-27 says it best: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” NOT ME—BUT CHRIST ONLY!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 24, 2008 | Proverbs
Proverbs 31:10-12
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”
I would like to tell you about my wife, Joyce. I need to do this frequently since she is a woman with a quiet spirit and never draws attention to herself. Over the fifty-six years we have been married, I have come to stand in awe of this lovely lady.
Joyce is quiet and discerning. She has never tried to be “Mrs. Pastor,” but instead she is my strongest supporter. By nature and gifting I am outgoing and always trying to lift people up by sharing spiritual truth.
Joyce “feels” when people are going through a stressful time in their life. It is typical for her to return from church and comment that someone is having some type of struggle. When I ask if they said something, she responds, “No, but I can just sense it.” Most of the time, it will come to light that she was correct.
A few days ago we received notice that a six month bond was maturing and that, if we did not notify, them it would be renewed for six more months. Out of the blue, Joyce said the Lord had impressed on her that we needed to have $2,000 moved into the checking account. She was so certain that I took the action that very morning.
The next day I spoke to one of our members who had a medical emergency. She tearfully said that she and her husband did not have the money to pay for the necessary surgery. Guess how much was needed? Right! $2,000!
There have been many times in the past when she mailed a card of encouragement to someone the Lord laid on her heart. Those who received the cards commented that the timing was perfect and met a need in their life at that specific moment.
Why do I write these things about my dear wife? Yes, it is to let her know that I appreciate her, but it is also to show that each of us can have a ministry that is tailor made for us. We do not need to fill a pulpit in order to minister. We can minister with cards, visits, phone calls, kind deeds or any number of things.
The important thing for each of us to understand is that when we ask God to show us ways we can serve Him, He will do it. Many are hurting right now for someone who will show God’s love to them—will you be that one?!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
