Uncategorized

God’s GPS

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

 For we walk by faith, not by sight 2 Corinthians 5:7

When God calls us to follow, Christ many of us eagerly jump up and try running to catch up with Jesus. But sometimes it seems that the harder we try the farther behind we get. One reason may be because we are trying to live for Jesus but we still keep the same familiar goals of our past life. Until we see the new goals that Jesus has for us we will just keep going the wrong way.

1523357252212_image.jpg

So God gives us a new GPS system for our spirits. God’s system is the WBF-walking by faith system.  Our old GPS won’t work anymore because our new path is invisible to our natural eyes. Jesus says odd things like, “Come to me out on the waters” when we are in a nice safe boat. Jesus tells us to feed five thousand when we only have five loaves and two fish.

As we walk the faith journey God’s satellite system (the Bible) points out exactly where we are. God’s GPS acquires our location and begins to call out when to turn, and when to keep going straight. If we keep walking in faith, the new system works perfectly. We see the old goals for the empty promises they are. But getting used to God’s way will take time. We make some mistakes along the way, turn up a wrong path or two or even fall to old temptations. But God’s GPS also carries with it a wonderful roadside assistance program called mercy. If we get off track, head off into a field or get stuck in the mud there is still hope. We just need to stop, ask for God’s mercy, and listen. God’s GPS will re-acquire our position then lead us by faith one step at a time to His destination!

New Name

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Once a month on Sunday afternoons some of the churches used to get together for the Sunday Hymn Sing. The men sat on one side and the women on the other not because of any kind of segregation but so we could sing our parts. Afterwards there were pies, coffee and casseroles laid out for everyone to enjoy while we got to know one another. This song, There’s a New Name Written Down in Glory by C Austin Miles was one of my favorites. I hope you can still hear the echoes of joy and smell the apple pie while you listen to these time tested with lyrics.

First Love

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.   Revelation 2:4

KIMG1622

As Jesus spoke to the church in Ephesus He began by listing all the great things about them. They had been faithful, worked hard, held up under persecution and had stayed away from false teachers. Sounds like the best church in town! But then Jesus brings up the burden of His heart; they have left their first love for Him. It might seem as if He was being hard on them, but the Bible tells us that the church is the bride of Jesus Christ. He is the bridegroom, waiting at the altar in heaven, with His eyes focused on us. He has loved us and given us his very own life so we can live with Him forever. In His heart is a longing to be with His bride but when He looks down He sees something changing. His bride’s heart that once longed to run to spend time in His presence is now very busy. She still thinks from time to time of Jesus, but she is also quite involved in a lot of other things. Everything seems so important that soon her schedule is so full that there are only a few moments left for Jesus.

Then He looks and sees His people not only too busy for Him, but also too busy to bother much about telling others about their need for Him. His heart is longing to see us again totally living for him. What will it take for us to go back to our first love? How will we ever return to where we once were? Jesus tells us clearly. He does not say; “Feel really bad and cry and pray.” He does not add, “Give some more money to the church.” He doesn’t even say, “Go out and start feeding folks at the soup kitchen.”  All of those things are only a pale substitute for the “First Love” that Jesus has in mind.