Eyes to See

The beggar followed in the way of Jesus

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

                                                                                     (Mark 10:46-52 KJV)

The story of the blind man begging Jesus to have mercy on him is a reminder that Jesus does indeed hear our prayers and answers.  The beggars eyes are healed. They are opened so that he might see the world around him. Jesus declares that he has been made whole. Being made whole the once blind man can now see to follow in the way of Jesus. When one is touched by the love and mercy of Jesus they are made whole.

We can never make ourselves whole. It is God in Christ Jesus who makes us whole. It is he who gives us new life; a life of wholeness in the Body of Christ; in the Kingdom of God. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

He Answers Our Prayers

Psalm 116 KJV

I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

I said in my haste, All men are liars.

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

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We love the Lord and give him thanks and praise because he hears our prayers and he answers. We don't always receive the answer that we were expecting. But, we do receive an answer to our prayers. Whether he answers yay or nay we can be assured that he knows exactly what we really need and it is not always what we want or to our liking. Rather our prayers are answered according to his good will for all people.  

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

Let us pray: Lord have mercy and deliver your children from the hands of their enemies both enemies that are seen and those that are unseen. We give you thanks Lord for in your mercy you hear our prayers and answer. Amen.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Adorn Yourself With A Gentle Spirit

 Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:2-4 NRSV

Although, it keeps commerce going, I have never quite understood why someone would need to have so many piercings or wear so much make-up that it distracts from the person that they are within. I am not saying that I think women shouldn't wear any make-up. But, I would think that the purpose for make-up would be to enhance one's features and not an attempt to mask who you are. 

God has made everyone and every one is precious in God's sight. Let the world see the person God created you to be. It does not matter what you look like on the outside. Appearances can be very deceiving. There is nothing more beautiful than a child of God who exudes the loving and gentle spirit that comes from knowing that they are a child of God. 

May God help each of us to cherish the lasting beauty of the gentle and quiet spirit of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Acceptable In His Sight

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 KJV)

Psalm 19 is one of my favorite prayers from scripture. I pray it before just about every sermon or message that I share aloud. Pastors like to talk and sometimes the words of our lips can get away from us as we jump from topic to topic on subjects that have more to do with personal agendas than anything that will glorify God. We are all sinners, sanctified in Christ Jesus. As sinners, we ought to pray that the Lord, himself, will guide our lips and our hearts in a way that is acceptable to him.

Lord, God, help us to speak those things that will be acceptable in your sight. Amen.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Quit With The Evil Deeds Already!

"Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:16-17 NIV

It amazes me that God would give His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Our evil deeds are so numerous that they cannot be counted. So often we do not even bother to do what is right. We may try to pretend that we believe what we is right and just as we go about doing only what feels good for ourselves. We are not prone to seeking real justice only a façade of justice so that we look better in our own eyes and our peers, who are so much like ourselves, that we seek to impress. But, God knows the difference.

There are days when I wonder how our Father in heaven can even stomach humankind. There are day; there are times, when I cannot. I must leave rooms because of the evil deeds that I see being done; albeit, often covertly; but, not always as the evil presence that I feel gets so strong. Most of the time I cannot watch television or listen to the radio as they bombard us with a nasty balm that paralyzes us to the pain of the world. We are not to be paralyzed to the pain of the world. We are to be there for the people around us. We are to be there for the oppressed. We are to take up the cause of the parentless. We are to stand by and support the widow. We are to be there for one another even as Jesus was there and is there for all of us.

We are a sinful lot! Thanks be to God that all who believe in Jesus have been washed cleaned by his blood. It's a tough thing for humans; but, maybe since God was willing to do die for our salvation; maybe we should at least try to keep our hands clean. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Integrity

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 NIV

Our faith; what we believe, is evidenced in what we say and do. Do we promote God's will even as we pray that His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven? Or, do we promote the false gods of this world by what we say and do? 

Those things that we profess that we believe should agree with the things that we say and do in all aspects of our lives. We all slip at times; but, when we say that we believe one way and consistently and purposefully live in another way; we not only become traitors to God; but, to the words of our own lips. We cannot teach others to live in God's way that He might be glorified while we live in a way that contradicts what we say.

May God help us to live with integrity; that the words of our lips and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in His sight and glorify He who is our Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Bless The Words Of My Mouth

"May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14 NIV

Anyone who has heard me preaching has heard this prayer of David before. It is the verse, that we pray, in some form, before the sermon at any and almost all of the Worship services that I lead, whether it is Sunday Worship, a funeral, a wedding, or whatever the occasion.

I begin every sermon with this prayer and I end it with a prayer, as well.  I have been told that it is not necessary to pray at the beginning or the end of the sermon and I seriously did think about listening to those directions. But, found I could not. You see, I need God's help.  In fact, I need, we need, God to speak through me; because no one needs to hear what I have to say; but, what God wants you to hear. 

At, the beginning of each service, as I face the altar, I also usually pray something to akin to: "Send your Holy Spirit that your people might hear your Word, your will for them, and not mine." Sometimes, that prayer is only one word: "Help." I depend upon the Spirit of God to open the ears of each of the hearers so that everyone might hear God's word, his will and not mine for you.

One of the rules I follow in sermon writing is never talk politics. I cannot even begin to imagine myself endorsing a candidate from the pulpit! I've been asked about this by a few people as there are  some who seem to think this is the preacher's job.  However, the pulpit is for preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  It is not for promoting a partisan view of the kingdom of this world. In regards to preaching politics, I am confident that it would definitely be my political views that would be expressed and not God's. 

Sharing the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ is not about pleasing man.  It is about pleasing God. In fact, often, people will not always be pleased with the message.  Sometimes the very same sermon that will bring comfort to one hearer, will bring conviction to another.  That, my friends, is the work of the Holy Spirit.  God knows who is going to be at Worship on any given Sunday and He knows what they need to hear.  And, if they have ears to hear, they will hear just what He wants them to hear.  Thanks be to God!

It always amazes me when people tell me after the sermon that they were so moved when I talked about..... (whatever it was they heard).  I don't tell them, I didn't actually say that.  If that's what the Spirit wanted to say to them, if that's what they needed to hear, then so be it.  And... the glory belongs to God!

Help us LORD!  May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts and minds always be pleasing in your sight, O' Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

God's Peace - Pastor J.