June 28, 2024

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”  ~Corrie Ten Boom~

It is easy to look in all the wrong places and when we do, we often discover that we are not at rest and certainly not at our best. In fact, we can become overwhelmed which leads us to become confused or to give up. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we are commanded to look to Jesus. The reason is that He is the author and perfecter of our faith. We must remember that in the previous chapter of Hebrews, we are given a list of the heroes of the faith. Each of them was looking to God and toward the world of the future. This is not escapism. It is realism. A person’s view of Eschatology impacts their Ethical behavior. As Christians, we are exhorted to live a life of faith. We are reminded that we walk by faith, not by sight. It is important to remember that all we see is not all there is to be seen. There is a new world coming. It is not a fairytale or a fable. It is a fact declared by the Lord God in the word of God. Let us live with holy conduct and with a heavenly outlook.   Serving Him with you Until He comes for us. Fred

June 21,2024

No Excuses!

When preachers sin it is big news. And it seems to create a feeding frenzy that allows the world to justify its own moral status and allow for its own version of virtue signaling. Disdain and contempt, contained in shouts of “hypocrisy” or “get your own house in order” are justified. We the church must accept the condemnation of the public. We have failed, we will fail again. But we must not become a circular firing squad. We must not give up or give in. We must go on as we live imperfectly in this imperfect world. I am still an ambassador for Christ with all my imperfections. I remind myself of the Williams Brother’s song; “I’m just a nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody.” And it is all by His grace (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal 2:16; Rom 3:21; John 3:16) "There but by the grace of God go I." How true for all of us. Serving Him with you Until He comes for us. Fred

June 14, 2024

“Universal profligacy (immoral behavior) makes a nation ripe for divine judgments and is the natural means of bringing them to ruin." -Reverend John Witherspoon-

The ancient nation of Israel denigrated itself to such a point of moral degradation and idolatry that the Lord ordered Jeremiah on three occasions to stop praying for the people so that His judgment might fall on them. (See Jeremiah 7:16, 11:14, and 14:11) We are not Israel and I pray we are not past the place of the power of prayer. We are commanded by the Lord to pray. (Please read and refresh your memory: Romans 12:13; Colossians 4:2; Ephesians 6:18; I Thessalonians 5:17 and Luke 18:1) Might you please, right now if you will, invest 5 minutes and pray for your own spiritual walk with Christ...your church, and its leadership...and for our civil leaders both state and national. Especially for our president, congress and Supreme Court. (I Timothy 2:1-4; Romans 13:1) Serving Him with you Until He comes for us. Fred

June 7, 2024

“My greatest strength is that I have no weakness.”                                          - John McEnroe -

I do not think Moses ever said this and I am sure I never thought this. Of course, neither Moses nor I play tennis. I probably spend more time than most focusing on my weaknesses of which there are many. I’m sure it is from a childhood that inculcated insecurities that are very difficult to uninstall. Moses had some great natural strengths that I do not. He also had some vexing insecurities that I do as well. But Moses came to experience and the apostle Paul explained that in our weakness we are strong, for in our weakness, He is strong. This can only occur because He lives in me. Paul put it so well, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”  How is that for perspective? It is even better. “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.  (Galatians 2:20) As I live the Spirit-filled life, as I walk by the Spirit, as I submit to the leading of the Spirit of God, the grace of God is all that I need. Because as Moses experienced and the Lord explained it to Paul and is still true today for me; “My grace is sufficient for you.” Moses and Paul knew it to be true. I am a remedial learner. Serving Him with you Until He comes for us. Fred