Coming to the Still Waters

Jesus spoke many times directly to the group called the Pharisees.  They were the religious elites that were trying to discredit Jesus.  They were using the Law to point a finger at Him.  Many times the infraction applied had to deal with what Jesus was doing on the Sabbath.  In this passage, Jesus gets very personal with the Pharisees who have been listening in to His teaching to His disciples.   This radio broadcast will air in Illinois but Lord willing we will be on the road to Maine.  I started the radio spot on September 11th of 2016 and I think this is the 146th or 147th episode.  It might be my last as the new pastor at Oglesby Union Church will take over the reigns. I am thinking that I might continue a video/audio podcast to go along with the sermon I am giving on any given Sunday.  The exercise of reducing my sermon to 4 minutes has been a good exercise for me.  I would upload it just as before but it wouldn't be on the ...

In 6th grade, I wrote a play called "Davy's Star."   It was a play performed by the elementary students of the Arenac Eastern Public School located in Twining, Michigan.  I wrote it; directed it; and starred in it as Davy, and I had only one line which was at the very end.  The line was "I can hear!"  I wonder if I got the inspiration for this play from the Bible account of the man born blind that I would have heard in a church Sunday School class. We left off with the now seeing man being asked where this man named Jesus was who created mud, put it on his eyes, and told him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam.  His answer was, "I do not know."   So let's go a little deeper into the account in chapter 9 of John and verses 13 through 17 this morning.  v.13 - They brought to the Pharisees  the man who was formerly blind. The "they" referred to here are the neighbors of the once blind man.  They had seen him on the corner as...

The church pictured above is where Stephanie and I have attended for two of our Sundays here before heading north to Machias, Maine.  I came across the church with the help of the internet while I was still in Illinois.  "Where will I go to church when I am in Florida?" was the question and so I looked for churches that were pastored by an alum of Master's Seminary of California and the nearest was this one 25 minutes from us.  Pastor Mike Sprott has been in pastoral ministry for 20 years and graduated from Master's Seminary in 2005 with a MDiv and then completed in 2017 his DMin.  I typically don't get these opportunities so I can report about my attending a church rather than leading it. Our Sunday School class was lead by a young man who worked us through the hermeneutic way of addressing a passage of Scripture.  Start by asking those observation questions of, "Who? What? Why? When? How? and Where?"   We practiced with the book of Jonah with...

"What's in your wallet?" was the ad campaign of a major credit card company a few years back.  One out of every 3 parables that Jesus tells deals with money or resources.  Today's episode deals with one of them but it is like Jesus is changing the question from, "What's in your wallet?" to "What are you going to do with it?" Many times, we as Christians do the same thing that those who are not followers of Christ do.  We build newer bigger barns rather than be satisfied and content with our existing barns and use the extra resources for the cause of the gospel.  We start to take possession of what God has given us and use it for our comfort rather than for the Great Commission. Jesus tells His disciples, the sons of light, and us, the church, to shrewdly use our resources so that when we get to heaven, we can see the temporal, what was here today and gone tomorrow, went for some eternal good.  Luke 16 is shaping up to be a very challen...

Probably one of the most famous blind persons was Helen Keller (1880-1968).  She was also deaf and the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, obtained at Radcliffe College of Harvard University.  She gave lectures and also became an author. I could have went the music route and posted a picture of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap or Andrea Bocelli.   Our passage today will start off a new chapter of the Gospel of John and the first part of the account of Jesus meeting up with a blind man made famous because of his encounter with Jesus.  Our Wednesday in the Word will cover John chapter 9 and verses 1 through 12, which read, v.1 - As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. We start out with two characters.  Jesus who is passing by but sees this man who cannot see and the blind man who has been that way from birth.  We have Jesus pausing His trek to the cross to show again what the Messiah is able to...

What you are looking at is a picture I took from the balcony of the Machias Valley Baptist Church of Machias, Maine.  The couple up front is doing a final run through of the songs that we will sing in the morning worship service.  Their names are Ted and Terry and I was forever calling Ted, Terry but I never called Terry, Ted.  With the morning sun coming through the large windows it makes the walls look blue but they are actually a light gray to match the carpeting.  The sanctuary is set for the morning adult Sunday School class. My weekend consisted of a flight from Sanford/Orlando, Florida to Bangor, Maine.  It started at 2:15 a.m on Friday morning and the rest of the day was spent flying, meeting the lead elder, Rob at the airport and a 90 mile drive to Machias, Maine.  We stopped to meet the local CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) chapter on the way to Machias which is a ministry the church supports.  I got settled into an "in law" apartment...

We fill out the top 10 reasons people quit church with numbers 6 through 10 this week.  The bullet points are from Thom Rainer and Lifeway Research and the thoughts beyond are my own from 34 years of experience as a local pastor.  Hopefully these are taken as a gentle nudge rather than a guilt trip or pointing finger.  Everything takes effort and so does going to church and being there for the right reasons. Also, a happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.  I am thankful to be the father of 4 and the grandfather of 8!  The more you have, the more time required to pray for them all.  I have been walking about 1 1/2 hours each morning around the park and I find it sufficient time to get them all before God.  If there are more grandchildren in the future then it will mean longer walks. I will be worshiping this morning with the believers gathered at the Machias Valley Baptist Church of Machias, Maine.  We will have spent the weekend getti...

Almost every afternoon and evening in the month of June it pours.  The sun is shining but the rain is falling and finding all the low spots to gather.  It allows the air conditioner to get a little break but soon after it stops the heat comes again.  No wonder so many head north this time of year. My trip to Maine is a couple days away and at least 20 degrees cooler.  It was interesting to see warnings on the sea coast in Maine for people to deter them from the still very cold water temperature.  Hypothermia is a possibility with a temptation to get into the water and not properly attired.  Pray for me as I have a weekend to share with another body of believers.  Even if it is just for this weekend, I want it to be for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.   Today's Wednesday in the Word finishes the 8th chapter of John.  Verses 48 through 59 say... v.48 - The Jews answered and said to Him,  "Do we not sa...

Another Sunday morning has rolled around and it is time to get up and get ready for a worship service of God with other believers in Christ.  It is easy to get out of the habit of going.  Thom Rainer posted his top 10 reasons for quitting church from surveying a large group of pastors so I am taking 5 this Sunday and 5 next Sunday to expand on his findings.  Here is the link to the podcast to listen to the original content:  Rainer on Leadership - episode #541 In light of the blog this morning, Stephanie and I are heading off to another church this Sunday because we are afforded this opportunity during our transition time.  This Sunday it will be Grace Bible Church of Tampa:   http://gbctampa.org/    Wherever you are, I hope you have a great time with other children of God to sing songs of praise to Him and to hear from His word to us.   Adam

Good Wednesday morning from Florida and I just got my hour walk in because that is the only time you can walk in Florida during the summer.  The mountain of boxes is getting smaller and another purging garage sale is in the near future. I will be flying to Machias, Maine over Father's Day weekend.  The picture above is another photograph of town during the fall.  The church is located on the right lower corner with a bell tower.  I covet your prayers for this trip and the opportunity to see if this is where I will start my interim ministry. Today's Wednesday in the Word covers John chapter 8 and verses 39 through 47 which read, v.39-41 - They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father."  Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.  But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.  You are doing the deeds of your father."   ...

We have arrived in Florida and this is the sign that welcomes you at the I-75 Welcome Center Rest Area.  The day was beautiful but it was also hot!  Yesterday was also our 34th wedding anniversary and I remembered our 1st wedding anniversary when we traveled to our very first ministry assignment. Attached below is the Down To The River radio broadcast.  I will have a few more of these until the new pastor at Oglesby Union gets settled in and takes them over.  I am thankful for recording devices and the ability to digitally send them over the many miles to WLPO from anywhere in the world. I titled this broadcast "One More Time."  When you have the opportunity to share Jesus with another sometimes the answer is "yes."   Sometimes they ask to hear it and that is what happened with a young man on a Monday morning in the back of the sanctuary of a church in Alpena, Michigan.  I still remember running laps around the sanctuary pews after he left. T...