Daily devotion

Fresh Baked Bread

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 ESV

When I was a boy, my friends and I used to play baseball in our shared backyards. No matter what the score, we would keep at it, unless a parent called us in, or we smelled the aroma of my mom’s fresh baked bread, wafting out through the kitchen window. Then like thieves rushing to a bank robbery, we would hurry in letting the screen door slam behind us and stand anxiously watching my mother. “What is it you all want?” she would ask us with a smile, before going back to popping those loaves out of the bread pans onto the counter. Then she would always nicely add, “You do know, hot bread is bad for your stomach. It has to cool for at least five minutes.” I think mom just made us wait because she loved to watch us hop from one foot to the other, while our eyes stayed glued to the hands on the clock just above the stove. She must have chuckled watching our twitching faces as the seconds ticked away, but true to her word, at the five-minute mark, mom would put a loaf onto the bread board and begin slicing. Then after slathering it with butter, mom would hand each one of us a slice., while asking, “Now, what do you say?”

“Thank you!” we’d all shout as we ran back outside to play with the last of her bread still in our mouths. When people met Jesus, they may not have been able to put their finger on why, but there was something familiar about Him that stirred a hunger in their hearts, just like the aroma of mom’s bread did for hungry boys. And what about you today? Are you standing outside Heaven’s door, enjoying the aroma of God’s fresh baked bread? Maybe you have come into the kitchen but are still shifting from one foot to the other, thinking you still have to wait your turn. Or have you finally found your seat at God’s kitchen table, and are hungrily gulping down that first buttery slice? Jesus tells us that we don’t have to wait any longer. Fresh bread is God’s promise to everyone who is hungry. But we must choose to come, and ask, and then don’t forget to say thank you!

River of Life

/ pastorpete51 / 11 Comments 
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14 ESV

I remember having a cistern for a few years, when we lived on a farm. It was filled with rain water, during the rainy times and in drought we called for a water truck to come and fill it. The water was kind of okay, but the day we were able to replace the cistern with a deep well, the transformation was unbelievable. Cool clean water flowed endlessly from our well, and the taste was wonderful! Jesus promised us the same. Before we have Jesus, we may have religion - maybe even the Christian religion. But our spiritual life is stale because, none of it is coming from within. All we have is dependent on an outpouring in church or a teaching from the pulpit on Sunday. But when we come directly to Jesus for ourselves, He creates within us a well of water that is dependent on no one but on Him. Neither circumstance, nor failure can un-dig the well that Jesus gives. All we need is now available directly from His presence that has come and made a home in us. 

When I first became a Christian, many years ago, one of the first songs that I learned at church was "Spring Up O Well" It was short, easy to sing and upbeat, but it also it tells a truth that we need to daily remind ourselves of. That well of that comes from the living water that Jesus gives, is promised to every one of us who comes and asks Him for a drink. You might think that because of the bouncy nature of the music that it is a more recent composition, but in all actuality the words were written by Mary Lathbury all the way back in 1884! This week, I was blessed to have been able to go back to the nursing home after having Covid (again!) and had a blast teaching this to our people. Since it was unfamiliar to many, many folks just listened, but by the smiles on their faces as they clapped along I could see that it will soon be a favorite. I hope you will enjoy and maybe in join in with us too on our sweet little song video for this week. Have a blessed weekend everyone!

The Sabbath is a Gift

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27 ESV

It has been a delight reading all the comments about those, who, like me, have struggled with figuring out what to do with the Sabbath. Let’s remember that the Sabbath is more than just God’s design or one of the ten commandments, it was also God’s first gift to us. Today’s verse comes from a story about Jesus and HIs disciples walking through fields and picking a few heads of grain to eat. Though most of us have never heard a single message preached from these verses, Matthew, Mark, and Luke each considered this passage so important that they included it among their highlights of Jesus’ teaching. Our cooperate loss of understanding about the Sabbath makes me think of when we visited a village in Switzerland many years ago. It was Sunday morning and the family we were staying with wasn’t going to church, so I went out for a long walk. While climbing up through the steep hills surrounding our valley, I came upon an ancient looking stone church. There, as I paused to admire it and rest, a man drove up, parked his car, got out and unlocked the door. After, he went in a few minutes later the bells began to ring, and their lovely sound echoed out as they pealed over the valley. Once he finished his duties, the man, locked the doors behind him, got back in his car and drove away. His faithful ringing of those bells sometimes reminds me of how on Sunday, we ring the bells, remembering vaguely that it is God’s day, then pause only long enough to catch our spiritual breath, get back in our cars and drive off. In the story leading up to today’s verse, the Pharisees just didn’t get what Sabbath was either. They angrily criticized the disciples’ behavior on the seventh day, because they thought that picking a few ears of corn, was an act of harvest. But, Jesus made it clear that God’s purpose for the Sabbath was for it to be a day of blessing for man and not a burden. He reminds us that God did not create man so that a Sabbath could be observed, but He had created the Sabbath as a gift. Jesus wanted us to know that Sabbath rest is the wonderful gift of refreshing from which we can go out to do all He has called us to do. Remember also that enjoying God’s Sabbath, keeps its blessing pouring out, not only for us but for our children and grandchildren and every generation until Jesus returns and we enter His amazing eternal and wonderful day of rest!