Those who visit this blog know that I have a bad habit of letting months pass by (more like seasons) between blog posts. In an effort to change my ways, I am re-posting here some of the things I send out to the members of our church. I hope this short devotional and other material will be helpful to you. I do plan to post more personal stuff when I get time. -Barry
DEVOTIONAL
Luke 21:1-4 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Jesus reminds us repeatedly in the Gospels that those who are most important in God’s eyes and God’s kingdom are not always those who are in prominent positions. God sees the heart of each one of us. The spotlight is often on those who speak in front of the church or lead in some way but that does not mean that those who don’t are of less value than them. In fact, they may be more valuable to God. Trust the Lord with all your heart, live for Him, He is the one who sees your hidden deeds. He is the one who loves His faithful servants.
EVEN SHORTER DEVOTIONAL
Jonah 2:9b “...Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
The Bible is clear that there is nothing we can do to be saved. We can not work our way to heaven with good deeds. We can not earn God’s favor because we have broken God's laws and rebelled against Him. Instead look to the Lord for salvation. Look to the Savior, Jesus Christ! Put your trust alone in Jesus and have your sins washed away by the bloody work of Jesus on the cross. If you do not turn to Him in this life, you will sink down, like Jonah, but to something worse than a watery grave. However, Jonah was given a second chance at life. There is no second chance after this life.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday
[This is a copy of an email I sent out today to the church where I serve. I thought I would post it here as well for others. -Barry]
Today is Good Friday, a day on which Christians remember the tragic yet wonderful event of Jesus dying on the cross.
These days we often wear crosses as jewelry or as logos on clothing. But let us not forget that a very real, heavy piece of wood was laid upon the bloody shoulders of Jesus as he was marched to his death on a hill. He was nailed to that wood and hung up to die an agonizing death. Why? He was receiving the punishment that we as sinners deserve before a holy God. He was the perfect lamb, to be sacrificed in our place. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, love, and obedience to the Father, we can now be forgiven and right with God. Just like Isaac was spared from death when God provided the ram in the bush (Gen. 22), so we can escape death by faith in the Lamb of God who was sacrificed, Jesus Christ. This type of faith demands that you put your trust, your entire life in the hands of Jesus the King. We know that He is the King because he was raised from the dead Easter morning, and ascended to heaven forty days later to be at God's right hand. The Bible says that Jesus the King will come again to take his followers home to heaven (John 14) and to judge the wicked (Rev. 20:11).
Please, take a moment today to read the verses below and say a pray of thanks to Jesus for His love for you.
a sinner saved by God's grace,
Pastor Barry
Isaiah 53:4-12 (ESV)
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Today is Good Friday, a day on which Christians remember the tragic yet wonderful event of Jesus dying on the cross.
These days we often wear crosses as jewelry or as logos on clothing. But let us not forget that a very real, heavy piece of wood was laid upon the bloody shoulders of Jesus as he was marched to his death on a hill. He was nailed to that wood and hung up to die an agonizing death. Why? He was receiving the punishment that we as sinners deserve before a holy God. He was the perfect lamb, to be sacrificed in our place. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, love, and obedience to the Father, we can now be forgiven and right with God. Just like Isaac was spared from death when God provided the ram in the bush (Gen. 22), so we can escape death by faith in the Lamb of God who was sacrificed, Jesus Christ. This type of faith demands that you put your trust, your entire life in the hands of Jesus the King. We know that He is the King because he was raised from the dead Easter morning, and ascended to heaven forty days later to be at God's right hand. The Bible says that Jesus the King will come again to take his followers home to heaven (John 14) and to judge the wicked (Rev. 20:11).
Please, take a moment today to read the verses below and say a pray of thanks to Jesus for His love for you.
a sinner saved by God's grace,
Pastor Barry
Isaiah 53:4-12 (ESV)
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
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