Good Financial Advice

Posted on Jul 9, 2020 in Devotions |

 We can all use some great financial advice. You can relax because this advice is not coming from me. It is coming from the greatest advisor of all, Almighty God.
 
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty,  ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10)
     
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
     
“Give,  and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ” (Luke 6:38)
       
Let’s listen to God and be blessed for it. 
                               
Gary

Don’t Lose Sight

Posted on Jul 8, 2020 in Devotions |

With everything that is going on in the world we need to be very careful not to lose sight of what Jesus came into the world to do. It was not to heal all sickness. It was not to right all wrongs. So, what did he come to do?

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt.20:28)

Don’t lose sight. Keep the faith.

Gary


To God All Means All

Posted on Jul 7, 2020 in Devotions |

As I pointed out in my sermon Sunday, to God all means all.

God says to ALL of us; “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:8-11)

When God says all he means you, and me, and everyone else. I can’t control you, or anyone else, but I can work on doing these things better myself.

Be a better servant of Christ. Keep the faith.

Gary


The Only Way to Truly Win

Posted on Jul 6, 2020 in Devotions |

We should always try to do the best we can. But let us not forget where true strength comes from…and why.
 
God instructed Gideon to defeat the Midianites. Gideon gathers an army of 32,000 men, which was all he could find, but was still much smaller than the opposing army. But God says to him “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her strength has saved her.” (Judges 7:3)
 
The army was reduced from 32,000 to 10,000. God said “Still too many” Then it was reduced from 10,000 to 300 men.
 
Only 300 men to battle the vast Midianite army. With God’s strength Gideon gains the victory.
Please remember that our greatest strength is in God.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10)
 
Amen!
 
Gary

True Freedom

Posted on Jul 4, 2020 in Devotions |

Happy 4th of July.

Independence, freedom, justice.

As we, hopefully, strive for more balance and justice in our country let us not forget about what the truest and most important freedom is.

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ” (John 8:31)

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ” (John 8:34-36)

Everyone can be free in Christ.

Gary


Be Forewarned

Posted on Jul 3, 2020 in Devotions |

Jesus, quite often, spoke out against injustice and racism (Parable of the good Samaritan, woman at the well, healing the centurion’s servant, etc.)  As our perfect example we need to be striving to emulate him. But be forewarned. Everyone will not appreciate your actions, in fact they may react very strongly against you. 
 
In Luke chapter 4 we see what can happen; Jesus was preaching in his home town. The people were gladly receiving his message; ‘All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘ (:22) They liked him until he said; “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time,  when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to one of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet,  yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian. ”  (:25-27) 
   
Jesus told them something historically accurate but it was something they didn’t want to hear. “God loves, and will use or heal, foreigners equally, or ahead of, Israelites???” “How dare he.”
     
‘All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built,  in order to throw him from the cliff. ‘ (:28-29)
       
Wow! They are told something historically accurate, that they know to be true, and they want to kill the speaker. I hope we can all agree that this is an outrageous and ungodly response. 
       
Sometimes we will hear things that we don’t want to hear. But if they are true we must react in a godly fashion, if, in fact, we belong to him.
       
Be strong in Christ. Keep the faith. 
                         
Gary

I’ll Just Let Jesus Talk to You Today

Posted on Jul 2, 2020 in Devotions |

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has passed over from death to life. ” (John 5:24)
   
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”  (Matthew 19:29)
     
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” (John 14:1)
 
Have a “trust in God” day. Keep the faith.  (That was me, not the Lord.)
 
Gary

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