Devotionals from Dad

Love to hear from and know who is listening

There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day that a large drink of cool water. Water is essential to most bodily functions. The body has no way to store water and needs fresh supplies every day. The human body can last weeks without food, but only days without water. The body is made up of 50 to 75% water. Water forms the basis of blood, digestive juices, urine and perspiration, and is contained in lean muscle, fat and bones. Since the body can’t store water, we need fresh supplies every day to make up for losses from the lungs, skin and urine. The amount we need depends on your body size, your metabolism, the weather, the food we eat and our activity levels. 

The scriptures use a lot of metaphors. One of the most common is water. The bible refers to living water, a well-watered garden and streams in the desert. In general, the use of water, especially living water, symbolizes the Holy Spirit and the Spirit-filled life. In John Chapter 4 Jesus asks a Samaritan woman to get him a drink of water. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman from Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus replied, If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who I am, you would ask me for some living water! The Samaritan woman replied, but you don’t have a rope or a bucket and this is a very deep well! Where and how would you get this living water?

John 4: 13-14 ESV Jesus replied that people soon became thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them, he said, becomes a perpetual spring within them, watering them forever with eternal life.

Have you ever been so thirsty that you couldn't think about anything else but water. Have you ever thought that as a Christian you could be a water bottle for Jesus. For the bottle to be of any use it must be filled. What are you filled with? Is your life filled with anger, impatience, contempt and jealousy? Or are you filled with joy, peace, patience and love? So let's assume that you are filled with Gods love. It feels so good to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but what good is it if we are not poured out? Have you ever thought about the fact that the first taste that people will ever get of the holy spirit may be the water within you? Wow!!!! That really convicts my heart, because I am not always a refreshing drink of water, at times I can be a bit bitter. My wife has an large collection of water bottles that she takes to work and drinks from. How gross would it be if she never brought her water bottle home and washed it. How do we wash ourselves out so that when we have the opportunity to pour the refreshing water of the Holy Spirit to the lost it is not a luke warm, bitter drink. If you gather with believers, humbly seek forgiveness when you fail and look to the Holy Spirit to guide your life and fill you, then you can be a refreshing drink that leaves the lost wanting more? We must continually come before the Lord seeking to be constantly renewed and cleansed.

Matthew 10:42 ESV And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

Revelation 22:17 Says, come and let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life come and drink without price. This verse extends the final invitation to sinners to come to Christ and quench their spiritual thirst. The Holy Spirit extends this invitation through us, the Christain water bottle, his Bride, the church!

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

My father in law, Garland Hendren, told me once that he thought he was living on borrowed time. I asked him what made he think that. He told me that he had already lived longer than all the other men in his family. At the time I just overlooked his statement and thought he was just being a bit dramatic. During the same time period he started going to the doctor because he displaying symptoms of diabetes. I also didn't think this was to strange because he was a pleasantly plump. I thought a change of diet and some additional activity and all would be well, besides I had lived with my wife Joyce, a Type 1 diabetic, for many years and she had managed it well. In October of 2020 Garland was told he had a tumor on his pancreas. We later learned that it was a cancerous tumor. The tumor was removed along with several lymph nodes. The doctors told him they thought they had found and removed all the cancer but that it would be a good idea for him to get all his affairs in order. He took a few chemo treatments but the side effects of the treatments were causing heart failure so he stopped the treatments. In May of 2021, just a short 7 months later he passed away. It turns out my father in law was right, he was truly living on borrowed time. It is not unusual to hear people talk about living on borrowed time. It is a pretty common expression. What is meant by that is that somebody is alive that should be dead. Usually these people have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and given only a few months to live and for some reason have lived longer than the medical professionals have predicted they would, they are living on borrowed time.... We are all living on borrowed time because of the fact, we are all sinners and God is a just and righteous God! However, God is also compassionate and merciful. “To borrow” means to obtain or receive something on loan and to use it as your own with the intention of returning it to its rightful owner. Every day of our lives is on loan from God. We are all living on borrowed time. The lives we are living are not really ours to use as we please. God is lending them to us because He loves our souls, so you should feel an urgency to use your life to its fullest potential! God’s time is valuable, and He is being gracious to lend it to you. So it is important they we invest wisely and spend the days of our lives on things that will profit His Kingdom. Be careful not to spend excessive amounts of time with the pleasures and cares of this life.

Isaiah 38: 1-3 ESV In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 

God did not disagree with Hezekiah, so He gave him borrowed time. Isaiah chapter 38 verses 4 and 5 say that God heard Hezekiah's pray. 

Isaiah 38: 4-5 ESV Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 

Every minute of our lives is borrowed time, none of us are promised tomorrow. God has planned all the days of our lives. How have you spent your time? Has it been used on eternal matters, or on things of this earth which will perish? Some of your time may have already been wasted and not used wisely, if you have not been living right before God. I know I have wasted many of the days of my life! So, use your borrowed time wisely for God and for lost of this world, and then the Lord will be pleased.

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

When I was in my early to mid 20's I had two boys die. Jerry Craig, lived 3 months and died of a genetic disorder, May 31, 1988. Levi Blake was still born and died June 16, 1990. Many things are spoken to the family of those who have lost a child in an attempt to comfort their aching hearts, however a lot of them simply are not true. Some of the common phrases said to those who are grieving include: God won’t give you more than you can handle, everything happens for a reason and God must have needed another angel. The last phrase, God must have needed another angel is the one I really want to focus on! Most of us have heard this phrase before and the truth is that, it simply is not true. God did not need another angel. God doesn’t need anything!

 Acts: 17 24-27 ESV The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 

God is more powerful than we can even begin to imagine and has everything He needs. This phrase, God needed another angel, makes it sound as if God was unable to fulfill His plan without the death of our children and thankfully this is far from the truth. It is not as if He is unable to act or unable to carry out his will without the heartbreaking death of our children. God is sovereign over all. He holds every life in His hands. But God is not petty. He doesn’t play silly games with us. He loves us. As humans, we were created in the image of God. We do not become angels when we die. Scripture tells us we have an even greater promise to look forward to. If we are in Christ and I believe babies are, we have been adopted as sons and daughters. God’s children will judge angels. We will be co-heirs with Christ. What an incredible promise! What an amazing gift!

1 Corinthians 6:3 ESV Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 

Romans 12:15 says, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. While we embrace the first part of this verse, Rejoice with those who rejoice, we fall short in the second part, weep with those who weep. The worlds pursuit of comfort and happiness has pushed us to avoid sadness at all costs! We seek to numb and distract our pain, rather than minister to the emotional pain and wounds, and point people toward the one true Hope. Yes I am convinced that my boys are with Jesus in heaven but they are not angels. I can't explain and will never understand why my boys had to die, but this I do know. God’s ways and His thoughts are higher than my ways and my thoughts.

Isaiah 55:9 ESV For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. 

On this earth we will suffer from the death of our children. So for now I will mourn and lament the loss of my children. However, the word of God promises me, that God will wipe away every tear from my eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And my heavenly father who is seated on the throne says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

I can remember when I was younger going to the amusement park, Worlds of Fun. At the time it seemed huge. At various places in the park there would be a map giving you directions to all the different rides, food courts and other attractions in the park and right smack in the middle of the map would be a brightly colored star with the words, “You are Here!” Once I found out where I was, then I could figure out where I needed go, in order to reach my destination. Isn't this very similar to our Christian faith? If you don't know where you are in relationship to God, if you not asking God for directions, how will you ever get your bearings and know where he wants you to go next? In Luke chapter 2, twelve year old Jesus and his parents were in Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. After the festival was over while his parents were returning home and Jesus stayed behind, but his parents were unaware of it. 

 Luke 2: 44-45 ESV but supposing Him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

If you listen closely to these verses you will notice, Joseph and Mary lost Jesus when they were returning to their place of comfort, to their home. I can imagine that during the festival of the Passover Jerusalem was a mad house and I feel confident that Jesus parents kept a watchful eye on him. However, once they were headed back home and in the comfort of family and friends they relaxed and they were no longer focused on where Jesus was. In other words they didn't make communications with God a priority since they knew where they were headed. The scripture even states that they went on traveling for a day and didn't even know that Jesus was not with them. So how did Joseph and Mary lose Jesus. The same way you and I do, we stop making proximity or communication with Jesus a priority in our life. You become more focused on your destination than you are on your devotion to God. Once Joseph and Mary returned to the temple courts they finally found Jesus and Mary said to him, “Son why have you treated us like this your father and I have been anxiously searching for you?”

Luke 2: 48 ESV And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 

Jesus reply to Mary was, “Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?” Remember this, anytime God asks you a question it is not so he can figure something out about you, He is Omnipotent and doesn't need your answer. The reason He asks the question is so that you can learn something about yourself. So why did Jesus ask this question? Remember Jesus is 12 years old and these are his parents so in essence, they are closer to him than anyone else. So Jesus asks this to influence a moment of reflection, but not only to his parents, to you and me as well. What Jesus is really saying is, you claim you know me so well, but your being anxious about this situation is an indication that you don't really know me as well as you think you do. Because, if you did you would know there is nothing to worry about. So what is the lesson we need to learn from Jesus question to his parents, “Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?,” The lesson is this, maybe the reason it has been hard for you to hear from God because he is in the last place you left Him, after the decision you made without him. You can go from person to person searching for answers in life, but you will never receive the peace you looking for until you return to Jesus! Let God be your focus, the brightly color star on the map of your life, that guides you to your final eternal destination!

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

When I was younger I used to go fishing frequently. I prided myself on my ability to cast my lure just about anywhere I wanted to. I didn't have a boat so I was fishing from the bank. If I wanted to fish the deep waters I could cast my lure all the way out to the middle and let it sink to the bottom. Sometimes I wanted to fish the shallow waters along the bank and with a nimble flick of the wrist I could place my lure just a few feet from the edge and slowly retrieve it. The coves were the most difficult place to fish because you had to concentrate so you could cast your lure around the trees and brush, but that was where the biggest fish usually were. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 7 says, were are to cast all our cares or anxieties on God. However, I must admit that when it comes to my anxieties and the troubles of life I cast them on God kinda like I was fishing. I often overestimate my ability to solve my own problems and underestimate my inability, and like a fisherman I cast my problems out, but I don't fully trust God to solve them and I end up reeling them back in. 

1 Peter 5: 6-7 ESV Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

To cast literally means to throw, to throw them away and not try to hang on to them. We should not hold onto our cares. Instead, we should throw them to our Father God who cares for us. He has big shoulders; He can handle our burdens. Cares refers to worries, difficulties and needs of this world. The New Living Translation says to “give all your worries and cares to God,” and the NIV says to “cast all your anxiety on him.” Everything that worries us or weighs us down is to be given to the God who cares deeply for us. These verses do not promise that God will remove the source of our anxiety, although He certainly can. Instead, the assurance is in knowing that He cares for us, which is why we can cast our cares on Him. God is trustworthy to handle our cares in the best way. God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We can trust that God is able and willing to deal with our cares. 

Romans 8: 28 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

In Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30, Jesus also invites people to cast their cares on Him: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus calls us to come to Him and cast our cares or burdens on Him. When we do, the promise is that we will find rest for our souls. We can come to Him with any of our concerns in prayer, and, while the burden may still exist, our souls will find rest as we trust in Him to help us carry it and to sustain us through the trial. God does not want us to be weighed down by the difficulties and worries of this life. Instead, He cares for us and promises rest for all who come to Him. If you trust that God is in control and able to handle your concerns, cast all your cares on Him, quite fishing for trouble! Let your troubles go, don't reel them back in as if you can solve all your own problems. Cast them away! Don't look where your throwing your troubles! Take your eyes of the things of this world...... O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

It’s the end of your workday and you’re staring at the to-do list you made earlier. You have one project at the bottom of the list that you’ve been putting off. It’s already late and you still haven’t gotten to it. You tell yourself I will do that task tomorrow. We all procrastinate from time to time, besides does anyone really wash, dry and fold the laundry all in one day. At our house you know it is time to do the laundry when dirty laundry starts crawling up the wall, out of the top of the basket, even then it can be put off a little longer, at least until you run out of clean under wear. Experts define procrastination as a self-defeating behavior marked by short-term benefits and long-term costs. If you put off doing the laundry you will get the short-term benefit of not having to do it, but the long term consequence is the task get even bigger, or you have to go to the store and buy clean underwear. I pretty sure Joyce has bought clean clothes rather than washing the one she has. Procrastination is the act of willfully delaying the doing of something that should be done, and in some people it is a habitual way of handling any task. While the word itself is not found in the Bible, we can find some principles to help guide us. Sometimes, procrastination is the result of laziness, and the Bible has plenty to say about that. The Bible commends hard work. 

Proverbs 13:4 ESV The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. 

 The Bible says that when it comes to some things, we should never delay. Jesus taught that reconciling with an offended brother should be done immediately upon our remembrance of the situation. In Matthew the bible tells us if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the alter and go get right with your brother, and then come to the alter and offer your gift. However distasteful it may be to pursue peace with your brother or even your enemy, we must avoid procrastinating. In Ephesians the bible tells us, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” Christians must not procrastinate when it comes to sharing the gospel with the lost. There is no time to waste. Some people, upon hearing the gospel and knowing their spiritual need, delay in making a response. This is the most dangerous type of procrastination. Life is short, and we do not know what will happen tomorrow.

James 4: 13-14 ESV Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 

Some decisions have eternal consequences! The lost of the world do not realize it, but the truth of the matter is, we will all live for ever either in Hell or Heaven. So in the matter of our spiritual life, we dare not procrastinate. When it comes to your spiritual life a day is coming when everyone will be forced to stop procrastinating!

Philippians 2: 10-11 ESV So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

In short, procrastination is a bad habit that can have eternal effects. 

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

When my children were growing up we had a lot of magnificent accidents. It was not uncommon for me to get concerned because suddenly the house was silent. Silence was not golden in my home, it was a sign that something was wrong, the kids were up to something and they were trying to hide from their father. So in the midst of the silence I would begin my stealthy search for my children. I would sneak up on them and when I found them they would be in the middle of mess that looked like a small bomb had exploded in their room. They would have no idea that I was present and in a stern fatherly voice I would say, “What happened here!” They would jump up and turn around and look me right in my eyes with a startled look on their face and say, “I don't know Dad, It Happened on an Accident!” The big bang is how some astronomers explain the way the universe began. They believe that an accidentally collision in the empty expanse of the universe, which began at a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is now! This explanation of creation is just as hard for me to believe as my children's explanation that the rooms became a mess on an accident.  There room didn't dirty itself and creation didn't create itself. God created everything that exists in an intricate fashion. For example the Earth seems to be in just right place for life. Venus is too close to the sun, and too hot for flowing water on its surface and Mars is too far from the sun, and too cold for flowing water on its surface. God also created our bodies in a delicate and intricate fashion.
Psalm 139: 13-16 ESV For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
The human body is an engineering marvel. God took dirt and formed our body into a miraculous, intricately designed creation, that is truly amazing! If you place just 1 square inch of skin under a microscope your will find in that piece of skin no bigger than a postage stamp, 3 million cells, 1 yard of blood vessels, 4 yards of nerves, 100 sweat glands, 15 oil glands and 25 nerve endings. All this in a piece of skin no bigger that a postage stamp. The heart pumps every minute of our lives, moving about 10 pints of blood through 60,000 miles of veins and arteries. That 10 pints of blood contains 25 trillion red blood cells that carry oxygen, 25 billion white cells that fight disease. If you were to take all the blood vessels, arteries and capillary in your body and spread them out, they would cover a 1 ½ acre field! All these vessels are interconnected to provide our body the nutrients we need to survive. That would be like the post office delivering millions of packages, over 60,000 miles of roads every day to exactly the right destination without ever loosing a package or delivering it to the wrong location. The heart is a muscle about the size of your fist. This amazing muscle never gets tired. If you work with your arms, they will get tired and sore. If you work with your legs, they will get tired and sore and eventually you will have to rest, but not your heart. It will pump 1 ½ million gallons of blood every year for the rest of your life. In a lifetime your heart will pump 40 million times. Some people would have you think that all of this just happened by accident, just like my kids used to tell me that their rooms just got to be a mess on a accident. None of Gods design of our body or any of his creation, for that matter, happened on an accident!!!
Colossians 1: 16 ESV For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or d

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

About 7 out of 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a poll by The Associated Press. Angels mean different things to different people and the idea of loved ones becoming heavenly angels after death is not unusual. When I was 22 years old my son, Jerry Craig, lived for 3 months then passed away from a genetic illness that the doctors, at the time, didn't know how to treat. Then just 2 years later my son, Levi Blake, was still born. I am sure we have all have either said, or heard, common phrases spoken in an effort to comfort someone during a moment of intense grief. I am sure our friends meant well, but many of these expressions are not true, for example: “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” “Everything happens for a reason,” “Don’t cry, they’re with Jesus” and “God must have needed another angel.” While we certainly want to be caring individuals to our friends and family, I believe we have a duty as Christians to speak the truth with love and grace. As you walk alongside a hurting loved one, take very seriously the words you speak about God and be certain they are true before you say them. Let’s not spread misinformation about God and His Word. So God did not take my two baby boys or anyone else infants, because he needed another Angel. First of all God doesn't need anything!!!

Acts 17: 24-25 ESV The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

God is sovereign over all. He holds every life in His hands. God is not petty. He doesn’t play silly games with us. He loves us!!! God is more powerful than we can even begin to imagine and He has everything He needs. This phrase, “God needed another angel,” makes it sound as if God was unable to fulfill His plan without the death of our children and thankfully this is far from the truth. As humans, we were created in the image of God. We do not become angels when we die. As professing Christians we have an even greater promise to look forward to. God’s children will judge angels. We will be co-heirs with Christ. What an incredible promise! What an amazing gift!

1 Corinthians 6: 2-3 ESV Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 

Angels in the bible do many things. In Revelation chapter 15, verse 7, one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels, seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God. The angels of the Bible are just as likely to assassinate individuals and slaughter entire populations as they are to offer help, comfort, protect and deliver. Angels are God’s obedient soldiers, doing the task at hand. Angels have delivered messages to humans that have provided guidance and encouragement. Angels can be ministering spirits. At the end of a believer’s life, angels provide care at the time of death. Angels cannot experience salvation, however the do celebrate when a lost person accepts Christ as their Savior. 

Luke 15:7 ESV Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 

So speak the truth in love! Share difficult truths in a gentle, kind, manner that is not offensive. Because we love one another, we must speak the truth. Because we know the truth, we must be people characterized by love!

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

During the days that leading up to Jesus Christ triumphant return, liars claiming to be the Messiah will arise, and so will deceptive people, pretending to be prophets of God. The ability of these frauds will be enhanced by their ability to perform great signs and wonders. They will attempt to deceive even those chosen by God, who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God sent to save the world. 

Matthew 24:24 ESV For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 

Jesus adds "if possible," since the true elect cannot possibly be lost by God. However, they may be mislead, diverted or deceived for a time.Jesus warned that deception would grow worse as we draw nearer to the end times, saying, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” Distinguishing truth from lies has become increasingly challenging. We live in a time when falsehoods assault us from every direction. Packaged with just enough truth to make them appear trustworthy, they have grown more difficult to detect and avoid. As the time for Christ’s return approaches, evil and social chaos will intensify. The Bible says that evil men will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Are we living in those days, the days of deception? Only God knows the answer to that. The Bible makes it clear that we aren’t to predict the exact time of Christ’s return or claim to know when it will happen. However at the same time, many of the signs or events that Jesus said must take place before His return are certainly in place. For me, there is no doubt that we are living in the days of deception!

Matthew 24:7-8 ESV For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 

Currently the nation of Israel is at war with the Humas and being attacked by Iran, Russia is at war with the Ukraine and according to a quick search of the internet as of April of 2024 there are 29 countries that are either at war with another country or in a state of Civil war inside their own borders. According to the 2023 Global Report on Food Crises there are, 258 million people are affected by acute food insecurity across 58 countries. According to records kept since about 1900, we can expect about 16 major earthquakes in any given year. The National Earthquake Information Center now locates about 20,000 earthquakes around the globe each year, or approximately 55 per day. According to the National Library of Medicine there is evidence that shows deadly pandemics have been happening more often. They warns us that more deadly pandemics are likely to keep happening, spreading faster, and killing more people than COVID 19. Finally, the apostle Paul wrote a warning for the church; he said the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. 

The evidence today of people having “itching ears” includes the popularity of messages that people don't need to change, that repentance is not needed; that people are basically good; that God is too loving to judge anyone; and that God wants His children to be healthy, wealthy, and content in this world. So how are we to live in these days of deception? Just tell the simple truth of the bible directly, humbly and with love! Come Lord Jesus Come!!!

Support the show

Love to hear from and know who is listening

Recently I have been attending a bible study entitled, “The Preachers Institute.” Our pastor started the class for the men who felt led to possibly follow the Holy Spirits calling to preach. I will be the first to tell you that I do not feel the calling to be a minister, but I thought it could be an opportunity for me to learn some new skills that I could use when writing my devotionals. Some of the others in our group may go on someday to become a minister, some may just be a lay ministers and others of us just want to learn how to get the most our of the scriptures. You may not realize it but everyone is a minister of sorts. Just the fact that your car is parked in front of the Church on Sunday morning is preaching a sermon to everyone that knows you.

Philippians 2: 14-15 ESV Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

You may be looking at a calendar full of school, work and other commitments, ball games, and doctors appointments, work and business meetings and be wondering, “How am I going to add sharing my faith to this?” The answer to that question is to be intentional about keeping God in focus no matter what you are doing. Any situation where you are already committing your time and energy can offer opportunities to tell others about God. You have probably heard the quote, “Your life may be the only Bible someone will ever read.” That can be an intimidating thought. Whether you are aware of it or not, you’re witnessing about Jesus everywhere you go and every time you open your mouth. So what sermon is your life preaching to those who know you? On our own we tend to be terrible representatives of Christ. But when we trust the Holy Spirit to led us moment by moment, repenting when we mess up, confessing to our friends when we say something less than loving, then asking for their forgiveness, we are witnessing to them. When we repent and return to what God would have us do, these things will bring glory to God, our lives can be a powerful witness. 

Luke 10:27 ESV ...“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 

Your actions, your choices, your lifestyle matters. Even if you never go knock on a door with your bible in hand and ask if you can share what God means to you, the fact that your attend church on Sunday, Wednesday and other opportunities is a witness! Your lifestyle, your conduct is likely a bolder witness than your words. Your actions truly speak louder than your words. Does the way your treat your neighbors and co-workers align the scriptures and bring glory to God? Do you witness with your life? When we practice Godly behavior around others, He uses our behavior, our lives as a testimony to all those we encounter. Even if they speak badly of us, deep down inside, they know differently. And God may use that conflict in their life to convict them. When you keep your calm and don't lash out as them like expect you to, when difficult situations arise, they may want to know why or how you can remain so calm, even when everyone else is betraying you. This may be your opportunity to led them to Christ. Unfortunately for some it may be the final judgment day when they are confronted by all the choices they have made. Either way, God will use your good deeds for his glory in his time. So what Sermon is your life preaching?

1 Peter 2:12 ESV Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Support the show