Pastor Gene's Blog (Page 9)

Pastor Gene's Blog (Page 9)

The Well

The Mercy of Jesus: A Meditation, Part 2

Mercy is one of our Father’s many magnificent attributes. Those of us who have found mercy – who have been kissed by God’s mercy – need not have it explained to us. Those who have never known it can never understand it, no matter how eloquent the explanation offered. Mercy rescued me, a guilty sinner and a lost man. Mercy delivered me from the quicksand of my own…

The Mercy of Jesus: A Meditation, Part 1

It is impossible for me to imagine that Johann Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations were written when he was only twenty-two years old. I knew nothing at twenty-two, and I sometimes feel that I know even less now! Gerhard’s Meditations are profoundly inspiring and deeply, deeply spiritual. They seem to be the work of a much older man – one who’d experienced many decades of the…

Why Marriage?

This morning I’m reposting an insightful article from FamilyLife ministries written by Dave Boehi. In it, Dave explores in simple, straightforward language the three great purposes God intends for marriage. Hold your own marriage up against these and ask whether or not its achieving God’s objectives. As always, I’ve included reflective questions at the end. Enjoy! P. Gene…

Four Things That Even God Calls Impossible

‘If God can do anything, can He create a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it,’ asks the clever sceptic. ‘Maybe not, but He can certainly create one heavy enough to drop on your irreverent head,’ my snarky flesh wants to answer! Augustine was famously asked by a student what God was doing before He created the heavens and the earth? “Creating Hell, he said, “For people who…

Catching a Glimpse of the Glory

‘Be practical!’ ‘Application, application, application!’ In seminary I learned that the key to preaching an effective sermon is practical application. Today, the focus of sermons is usually the audience: ‘What will he or she hear and will it matter to them personally?’ But this, I think, says more about the day in which we live than it does about preaching sermons that…

Shipwrecked!

In 1 Timothy Paul tells of a shipwreck. Not of a first century wooden ship piling her hull upon the rocks, mind you, but a shipwreck nonetheless. And one no less terrifying than any of the nautical disasters that have become so famous. “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage…

Drifting from the Father’s Love

In Luke 15, a conflict is about to bust out between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus is becoming popular – too popular – and with all the wrong kinds of people. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him, “Luke tells us, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them’” (Luke 15:1-2).…

Living Inside Out

It’s a theme that runs throughout the New Testament: to follow Jesus means to live inside out. That’s not to say that the outside doesn’t matter – it does! God holds us accountable for what we do and say. He expects obedience of us, and a good testimony – and confession, if sin has broken our fellowship with Him. The problem is this: while were often more concerned with…

Alms from Within

Do you remember how in 1 Samuel 15 God gave Saul the victory over the Amalekites? His instructions to the king were pretty straight forward: “Attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them” (15:3). Clear enough, right? This included their animals – “cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys,” nothing was to be spared. Saul however, provoked God’s anger by…

“Why Not Rather Be Defrauded?”

In reading through the Gospels, it’s virtually impossible to miss the compassion of Jesus. It’s everywhere on display. It’s what drove Him to seek the lost, provide for their needs, heal their illnesses and urge them to Himself that they might be saved. The lesson of Jesus’ compassion was not lost on the early church. They drew it into their very lungs as though it were…

A Compassion That Compels

Before He ascended into Heaven, the Lord Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit who was about to come. The Spirit was already “with” them, Jesus said, but He would soon be “in” them, and “in” them “forever”! The coming of the Holy Spirit would manifest itself in two profound ways in the lives of these disciples. First, they would have “power”.…

Unfinished Towers and Lost Wars

In Luke 14, Jesus made a provocative and troubling statement to the many who’d begun to accompany Him as His popularity increased. He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be…

The Truth About Cross-Carrying

“Follow Me,” Jesus said. Paul would later write, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” he told the church at Corinth, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me” (Mark 1:17; 1 Corinthians 11:1, 4:15-16). But following and imitating Jesus would come at a cost. Jesus Himself challenged His disciples with these words:…