Opposition

 Opposition

April 9, 2026

Luke 8:11-15

11 “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. 12 Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart,so that they will not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

This week, we have been considering the word about being dedicated to the Lord. In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches that opposition comes after the teaching of the Word. The devil is not happy to have us follow the Lord wholeheartedly, so will make every effort to dissuade and distract us. This can come as outright opposition or more subtlety as distractions and worries of life. What is there in you life that keeps you from following the Lord wholeheartedly? 

For those of us who are getting on in life, a common distraction is health. As our bodies slow down, we tend to worry. We get distracted by our aches and pains and forget that we still can serve the Lord. Perhaps we look to our doctors too much and stop trusting in the Lord to sustain and heal us. Or maybe we worry about the world situation instead of praying for our leaders. But whatever the devil brings across your path, know that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for your life and regardless of what difficulties may try to hinder you, it is you duty and privilege to serve the Lord. So hold fast and bear fruit with perseverance. One day the Lord will return, or we will go to be with Him, and all of our troubles will be over. But for today, decide who you will serve and do not get distracted. 

Rest

 Rest

April 8, 2026

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take Myyoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

When you commit everything to the Lord, you can rest in the assurance that He has everything under control.That’s a lot easier said than done. When we look around us, we see all sorts of problems and turmoil. How can the Lord possibly be in charge when we see wars, destruction, death, disease and personal conflicts? Nevertheless, the Lord is in charge. He tells us directly that “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” It is an act of faith to rest in that assurance and trust in Him when all around you is in chaos. 

I’m really preaching to myself today, because we have had a lot happening here. Many prayer requests have come in for various problems that are happening all around us. Some have had relatives pass away. Others have had problems with children and some have had family members sick and even in the hospital. It is overwhelming to consider all the things that can go wrong, but our faith is not in what we see, but in what we know that the Lord can do. We pray and trust the Lord to do only what He can do. We are powerless to solve these problems on our own, but we know that He is able. That is where we find rest, in knowing, in really knowing and having assurance that the Lord has all of these things under control. So Lord, help us to look only to You and give us rest for our souls, for we are weary and heavy laden, but we give it all to you, for your burden is light.

Songs

 Songs

April 7, 2026

Colossians 3:16

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

There is a song in the old Methodist Hymnal call “There’s a Song in the Air” that reminds me of the admonition in this verse to admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Verse 1

There's a song in the air 

There's a star in the sky 

There's a mother's deep prayer 

And a baby's low cry 

And the star rains its fire 

While the beautiful sing 

For the manger of Bethlehem 

Cradles a King

Verse 4

We rejoice in the light 

And we echo the song 

That comes down thro' the night 

From the heavenly throng 

Ay we shout to the lovely 

Evangel they bring 

And we greet in His cradle 

Our Savior and King

When we rejoice with thankfulness in our hearts, there should be a song in the air. And also, when thee are troubles around, there should also be an encouraging hymn in our ears. This was one of my Mother’s favorite songs and I’m reminded of her in the phrase “There’s a mothers deep prayer, and a baby’s low cry”. I can imagine her singing this when I and my sisters were babies and had reason to cry. A mother’s love will somehow find a way to sing even when the baby’s are crying at night and it seems the dawn will never come. But hope is there and the song reminds us that the dawn will come and the light will shine and that Christ is the King and our troubles will one day be over.

So encourage yourself and one another with songs and hymns and spiritual songs, for Jesus is our savior and king and there is faith, hope and love; and singing will help us find it.

Thorns

 Thorns

April 8, 2026

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan totorment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

When it comes to dedicating our whole lives to the Lord, we have to consider both our strengths and our weaknesses. When young people are starting out to become disciples, they need to discover their gifts and talents to discern the type of work they need to do for the Lord. When we get older that is less of a concern, but our weaknesses become more apparent.When  we are young, we can usually get by with youthful enthusiasm and bluster, but as we age we lose some of that energy and have to rely on the Lord more, just out of necessity. 

Some of our thorns may also be exposed as we lose our emotional filters that keep us from saying everything that is on our minds. When we get to be a crotchety old man, it takes too much energy to restrain ourselves and we just say whatever comes to mind! Everyone has ‘that uncle” that you resist inviting to Thanksgiving dinner because you are afraid of what he might say. It is the true saints of God that become sweeter and more compassionate when they age. I remember my mother-in-law who gradually lost her mind to dementia, but never failed to be polite and concerned about other people as long as she was still able to talk.

So the question is, can you say, like Paul, that the power of Christ dwells in you? Is His power perfected in your weakness? Can we agree with Paul that we are content with our weaknesses? That is the acid test of our faith, that we can rely on the Lord more and more our weaknesses and infirmities are exposed. Growing old and continuing to walk in the Holy Spirit is not for the faint of heart! Most of us will never encounter the type of insults, distresses and persecutions that Paul experienced, but nevertheless, we need to be able to say that we are content with our weakness for when we are weak we are strong in the Lord.

Search Me

 Search Me

April 2,  2026

Psalms 139:23-24

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

We’ve been talking about trust, love and not worrying, so then the next step is a checkup. Medicare mandates that we go to the doctor once a year, even if we feel ok, just to get a checkup to make sure everything is working fine. If that is reasonable to do for the body, then surely you should do a checkup of your spirit at least once a year. Nowadays, the doctors have all sorts of instruments and scanners to examine every part of your body from the inside out. How much more effective then is a scan by the Holy Spirit who created your body, soul and spirit.  

When He examines your heart He can look deep, even to those things that we have hidden from ourselves. But fear not, the Holy Spirit is also gentle and will only reveal those things to us that are ready to be healed. We just need to be willing to let Him examine our heart and clean out the anxious thoughts and hurtful ways. Then we can walk in the Spirit and be guided into the everlasting way. It’s like taking a bath in a cleansing stream to wash away all those things that hinder us from walking with the Lord. So invite the Lord to search you and examine your heart.

Do Not Worry

 Do Not Worry

April 1, 2026

Matthew 6:25 (NKJV) 

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:33-34 (NKJV) 

33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day [is] its own trouble.

The corollary to trusting in the Lord and loving Him with your whole heart is not worrying. That’s easier said than done. My mother was la first class worrier, so I come by it naturally. But really trusting in the Lord means that we REALLY trust in Him for everything! When He is truly and completely in charge of your life, there is nothing left to worry about. So make Him king and seek first His kingdom, and all else will fall into place.

Love the Lord

 Love the Lord

March 31, 2026

Mark 12:28-31

28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answeredthem well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ 31 The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Yesterday we talked about trusting the Lord. You cannot trust without love. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he quickly quoted the command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When we love the Lord totally, it is easy to trust. The second part is more difficult. We can love the Lord because we know He loves us back, but what about our neighbor? He can be difficult and contentious but we are to love anyway. 

The golden rule states that we are to do to others what we would wish to be done to ourselves. It is said that only Judaism and Christianity have this rule. All other religions, at best, only command to love your brother, but to hate your enemy. Certainly Islam falls into this category as they decree charity be done to fellow Muslims, but they teach that all infidels deserve slavery or  death. Certainly Jesus taught a better way! 

So our job today is to love the Lord with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourself. “There is no other commandment greater than these.”