“Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. All of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.” (Acts 27:35-36)
This may not seem like a significant episode, but it shows how powerful a person’s example can be. Continue reading
A young man came into our church in Oklahoma City one Sunday morning, and he was in despair. His marriage, and really his whole life, had fallen apart, and he came to church in despair for help, and he said the question that kept going through his mind was, “Is there any hope? God just show me if there is any hope.” One of my sisters was visiting our church that Sunday morning, and we had a greeting time like we had here this morning, and while this question was going through his mind, “Is there any hope; God show me if there is any hope,” my sister walked up to him, stuck out her hand and said, “Hi; I’m Hope!” He told me later, “Shawn you just don’t know what that meant to me. It was as if God was saying, ‘Yes Skip, there IS hope!’” And God did raise that young man out of his difficulties, and he is still serving God in that church today!
There IS hope in the Lord. And that hope is based on what God did for us that first “Easter Sunday” when He raised Jesus from the dead. Let’s look together at “The Hope” we have in Jesus. Our passage for today comes right out of our daily Bible reading this week in Acts 26: Continue reading
“The Lord stood at his side.” (Acts 23:11)
Why isn’t this one of the best-loved and most quoted verses in the Book of Acts? It is amazing and wonderful, that the living Lord Jesus would appear to Paul in his time of need, and come and stand with him. But the truth is, that through His Holy Spirit, He is also just as present with us right now! Continue reading
“And now I commend you to God …” (Acts 20:32)
Paul didn’t utter these words casually, or irresponsibly. He had just said in :32 that “day and night for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” He had POURED himself into these Ephesian Christians for years. And it was only AFTER those years of the hard work of discipling that he said, “And now I commend you to God.”
It should be the same with us. Continue reading
“Just as the LORD had commanded Moses” is the theme of Exodus 39 & 40. Nothing “new” was commanded here; rather the focus was on how Moses actually DID everything that God had commanded him. Notice how these same words, “just as the Lord had commanded Moses” are repeated in all of these verses: Continue reading
“He made two golden rings for it under its moldings on its two sides — on opposite sides — as holders for poles with which to carry it.” (Exodus 37:27)
It wasn’t permanent. That’s what stands out here. As you read through the description of the articles that were part of the tabernacle worship in Exodus, you will notice that they all included these golden rings, “as holders for poles with which to carry it.” Everything in the tabernacle was made to be MOVED. Which is a good reminder to us. Continue reading
Our little grandbaby girls are learning to read! But before they can actually understand the great concepts they can learn from reading, they must first master the “A-B-C’s.” The “A-B-C’s are the building blocks of reading, and all those big words and ideas won’t make any sense to them until they learn the basic concepts of those letters first.
As we come to Leviticus in our Old Testament reading, we read all these commands about lambs, and sacrifices, and blood —what is all this about? God was giving His people the building blocks; the “A-B-C’s” of faith. Before they would be ready to receive a Messiah who died for their sins, God first had to give us the basic theological alphabet of sin, and sacrifice, and forgiveness. When Jesus came later and John the Baptist said “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” people would not have known what “sin” was, or the forgiveness that the sacrifice of a lamb brought, etc., unless God has first given His people the “spiritual A-B-C’s” in Leviticus, to help us understand what Jesus would later bring us.
So today as we prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper this morning, let’s look back at these “A-B-C’s” in Leviticus, and remember how it shows us that the sacrifice Jesus made brings about the forgiveness of our sins and satisfies God. Continue reading
I served as pastor of Southern Baptist churches in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for almost 30 years before taking a medical leave from the pastorate in February 2013 due to dysautonomia (POTS) and moving to Norman, Oklahoma. Blessed with renewed health, I was called as Senior Pastor of Pleasant Ridge Baptist in Morganton, NC in February 2015.
In this blog I share daily devotions from my own personal Bible readings, as well as sermons, book reviews, illustrations -- and occasional humorous "peeks" at life inside this pastor's home!
