Coming to the Still Waters

Our Wednesday in the Word this morning will cover John chapter 6 and verses 60 through 65.  It reads... v.60 - Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" What is the  "difficult statement" ?  Jesus said,  "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves."   He also said,  "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."   Jesus made it clear,  "I am the bread of life."   In the midst of those who were following Jesus as a rabbi, a teacher, they were coming up on statements that they couldn't listen to.  The sweeping statements that Jesus was saying about Himself and salvation were getting beyond their willingness to continue to follow or to take Jesus from just another rabbi to follow to be the

The highlight of my Sunday was to gather with a small group that meets occasionally on Sunday late afternoons and watch/listen to this man pictured above, Pastor Mike Fabarez, give a message at the 2019 Moody Founder's Week.  I will attach the actual video here so you can experience it too. He gave some Scripture references that I would like to go back to this morning because I need to "chew" on them some more.  In a world where the greatest sin has become "not to offend anyone" the proclamation of the gospel has taken a big hit. Acts 14:21, 22 After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, "It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." What is necessary?  To go through many hardships while preaching the gospel and making many disciples. 

We have come to the end of the Explore God series with the final question, "Can I Know God Personally?"   It has been great to go to the Scriptures and see how we can answer these questions from God's words rather than our own.  Maybe we are the ones to ask these questions to those who God has placed around us?   The challenge has been to keep going through the Gospel of Luke while addressing these questions.  The principle is that the main point of the passage becomes the main point of the message rather than starting with a main point of the message and trying to place it into the passage.  So....I don't know if I would do this again, this way.  I hope my focus was the passage and allowed it to answer the question as directly or indirectly and was good with that rather than trying to push the passage in a direction it was not intended to go.   Such is the life of a pastor and the overwhelming responsibility of opening up the Word of God before the people of G

Today for this Friday Focus , I want to write about forgiveness.   It is not the forgiveness that God has given us through the death and resurrection of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.  God's forgiveness is infinitely wonderful and it seals for those who respond to His opening of our eyes and hearts to Jesus as our Savior, like the thief on the cross, paradise (heavenly eternal life).  The forgiveness provided by the cross and grave events is part of the gospel message that we are to proclaim to the world as salt and light, ambassadors of Jesus. The forgiveness I want to write of today is the forgiveness that we offer to each other and specifically within the body of Christ, the church.  I am sure what I write here could also be applied to our biological family but if we are Christians, we are immersed in this other family where the physical walls change after the service or the ministry we are participating.   We go home.  We put some distance between ourselves.  We

Today's Wednesday in the Word continues through the Gospel of John, chapter 6 and verses 48 through 59. v.48-51 -  "I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." Jesus is speaking so directly while using an actual event of the Old Testament.  The Israelites have been released from the Egyptians by the hand of God and lead toward the Promise Land by Moses.  God provides them food for this massive crowd that some say could have been from 600,000 to 2 million in number.  Each morning, bread would appear on the ground, manna, that would be gathered for the day's meals and only that day except for the preparation of the Sabbath.  The bread gathered on Fr

Good Monday morning for north central Illinois and another layer of snow.  I guess I know what my afternoon activities will be. We are finishing up the Explore God series this Sunday morning.  It has been great to look at these 7 questions and to receive from God's Word some answers for us as Christians.  Here are the 7 popular questions asked. Does Life Have a Purpose? Is There a God? Why Does God Allow Pain & Suffering? Is Christianity Too Narrow? Is Jesus Really God? Is the Bible Reliable? Can I Know God Personally? We continued through our study through the Gospel of Luke and came up with this grid to give an answer to these questions. How do we answer... our purpose - seek God's kingdom our God - sights on Jesus our pain & suffering - strive to obey our narrow way - " settle now" proclamation our Jesus - strong saving statements from Him our Bible - study the actual text our relationship - standing at His door I als

We are coming to the close of the Explore God series at our church.  It has been great and I will make a blog post about a grid that came out of this series in giving some biblical answers to these questions. Today's broadcast is on the question, "Is the Bible reliable?"   The focal point in the sermon will be to actually study the text rather than repeating old sound bytes.  We will look at a passage and answer questions about its relevance, corrective ability, and importance to stability. I pray that you have a great day today and are ability to be with others to worship our great God and King and read some from His book! Adam

What is happening? I have reached out to others for help in the area of pastoring and negotiating the position as the local leader of a body of believers, God's church.  Being located in smaller communities; great distances to places of further education; and resources that were preciously used elsewhere, it lead me to books first and then to the emerging internet. At first the internet was too expensive and the books (many used) was the route I followed.  Now the books are expensive and the internet has become my more fiscally financial decision.  The books and the internet opened up to me others who were in my same position but a little further down the road.  I was able to glean from them matters of the heart and of the family of God. If the author was very beneficial and the financials were planned out in advance, I might get to see this leader, in person, at a conference and listen from the "horse's mouth."   Some of these preachers and teachers became

"Wednesday In The Word"  will cover John chapter 6 and verses 37 through 47 which read, v.37-40 -  "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.  For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." I can't help but think of the thief on the cross when I read these verses.  It was  "his"  last day on the earth.  There was something that happened on  "his"  last day that effected his destiny on  "the"  last day when God will settle all accounts of those redeemed and unredeemed.  The thief on the cross beheld Jesus on that center cross and believed

It was a Sunday to be the lead singer in our morning worship service.  We started with "Crown Him With Many Crowns" straight out of the beginning of our hymnal, number 3.  Next was the song "The Great I AM" and followed up with another from the hymnal, "Holy, Holy, Holy."   To finish out this bank of songs was the singing  of one verse of another song out of the hymnal,  "Blessed Assurance"  a cappella.    To finish out the music for the morning was "The Doxology" and into "I Will Praise Him" prior to the message and closing with "Take My Life And Let It Be."   This Sunday we leaned heavily on the songs we have received from many years gone by.  I am thankful to say that the congregation bellowed out them all. I have been "upfront"  in the church for 33 years in an official capacity.  I have also been a part of the church since 9 months in my mother's womb and received the singing of the church