SCHOOL IS OUT

ByDr. Mark October 8, 2021 0 Comments
“My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given.  You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.  You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well-constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith.  Now do what you’ve been taught.  School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it!  And let your living spill over into...

THE ONE WHO DID NOT BOW HIS HEAD

ByDr. Mark October 7, 2021 0 Comments
“Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good; his love is eternal!  Repeat these words in praise to the Lord, all you whom he has saved.” (Psalm 107:1-2a Good News Translation) A family sets down for dinner.  The matriarch of the house asks everyone to bow their heads so that she may bless the food.  She starts out by saying, “We thank you Lord,” and as she continues to pray,...

WHEN YOUR BAG RIPS

ByDr. Mark October 6, 2021 0 Comments
“We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken.” (2 Corinthians 4:8b-9 The Message Bible) You load up your cart as you check out at the grocery store.  You gently and carefully place...

STAYING ON THE LINE

ByDr. Mark October 5, 2021 0 Comments
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 ESV) Every Sunday a little , pre-school age girl, comes to the pulpit where I am setting, waiting for church to start.  She comes with her grandmother who faithfully shows up early.  She matches my definition of on time, “If you are early, you are on time and if you are just on time,...

THE OF OXGOAD, THE OXEN, AND COURSE, YOU!

ByDr. Mark October 4, 2021 0 Comments
“Now after him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck and killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.” (Judges 3:31 NASB) This is a very appropriate verse for this new day, a new Monday, a place in time that we have never seen before.  What a blessing! Thirty-one years ago, in another blessed period of life, I preached on the topic. “Small Mean, But...

I WON’T BE LONG! REALLY!!

ByDr. Mark October 3, 2021 0 Comments
“After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever.  “Please heal her,” everyone begged.  Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.” (Luke 4:38-39 NLV I know!  We say it all the time, “I won’t be long.”  Well...

DON’T PASS HIM BY!

ByDr. Mark October 2, 2021 0 Comments
“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.  This includes you who were once far away from God.  You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.  Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through...

DON’T FORGET “THE STRETCH!”

ByDr. Mark October 1, 2021 0 Comments
“Father, I stretch my hands to Thee, no other help I know; if Thou withdraw Thyself from me, ah! Whither shall I go?” (Hymn by Charles Wesley Either I was not paying attention, or I don’t recall being told the importance of stretching prior to any athletic event during my high school days.  We just ran laps, many of them; a multiple number of them; a multifarious number of them!...

FREE TECH TRAINING FOR BELIEVERS

ByDr. Mark September 30, 2021 0 Comments
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9 ESV) As I am walking down the hallway one morning this week, my wife, working in her home office, asks me if I sent out the meditation on that particular day because she had not received it yet.  I said, “Yes.  You should have received it early in the...

TAKE IT A STEP FURTHER

ByDr. Mark September 29, 2021 0 Comments
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.“ (Philippians 4:13 NIV) There is one person being helped by the customer service clerk at the one open register.  The clerk is having some difficulty ringing up the order, but the customer making the purchase was very patient.  There are only two other people in line, an irate customer, next to be served, and myself.  The...