Devotional (Page 16)

During these days at the start of this year, I am sure many of you have felt like I have.  When the year started I was looking forward to a new start and leaving 2020 behind me.  The problem with leaving 2020 behind me is that I am not reflecting on what happened, how to learn from it, and what I am called to do moving forward.  During 2020 many of us felt as if we were just trying to…

A prayer of Moses, the man of God:  “Lord, you have been our help, generation after generation.  Before the mountains were born, before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world- from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God.”  Psalm 90:1-2 This is the only “song of Moses” in the Psalm, but there are two others (Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32) as well as the blessings he gives the tribes of Israel, also in Deuteronomy.…

I hope that your week has been blessed abundantly by God the Father and the Living Christ.  We were so pleased to be able to share the Lord’s Supper with so many of you last Sunday either in person or through live stream. It has been a while since we gave an update on Pastor Bill’s health, so I thought I would do that today.  He finished 3 days of chemotherapy on Wednesday, January 6, and will now have 21…

Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone… Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:14b, 16-18) As we close out what will be a year that most of us will never forget, I have felt the Spirit challenging me to evaluate all the reasons we have to be hopeful about the coming new year. Here in this passage, as the Apostle Paul moves…

As we approach Christmas day this year many of us have experienced more loss, heartache, distress, and confusion than any other year. As we head into the Advent season it is revealed that we as Christians can simply rest in the truth of the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love that Christ’s birth provides us.  It is comforting to know that even though the world can fall apart around us we know that these things are already provided for us. As…

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15 (NIV) Let’s pause and think back to the first Christmas. Have you ever stopped to put yourself in Joseph’s shoes? Here was a guy who found out his fiancé was pregnant, claiming she was visited by an angel and it’s God’s baby. And she wanted him to believe her! In an instant, Joseph’s whole world was turned upside down. This was not the way his life was supposed…

34 “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. 35 This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:34-35 CEB) John Wesley was a pastor and theologian who lived in the 1700s. Many affirm that the Church of the Nazarene grew out of the evangelistic movement originally started by Wesley. In Wesley’s teachings, he often emphasized the idea of…

With information at our fingertips, it is so easy to feel like we are well informed, we have the answers, and we are all a part of the bigger picture. While we are certainly a part of the larger story of what happens in our larger world, wouldn’t it be great to simply look to our left and right and make a difference for Christ in our own small world? In a time when our world is tracking who we…

“I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.  I will be filled with joy because of you.  I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.”  Psalm 9:1-2 This particular year requires that I cook a turkey.  It won’t be pretty.  It may not be ugly, but I can promise you that it will not look like any turkey advertisement you may have seen in the last…

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” (Colossian 3:12-14 from the Message) In the midst of this election week, with votes still…

Give thanks with a grateful heart, Give thanks to the Holy One, Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son. And now, let the weak say, “I am strong, let the poor say, “I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us.” Give thanks. We are entering a season of many opportunities to give thanks to the Holy One.  Wherever we find ourselves today, whatever we feel, whatever we need-  we first of all need to…