Jesus

Steadfast Love and the Prodigal Son

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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

  • God’s love never ceases: It has never changed in the past and will never change in the future. God doesn’t love us more when we succeed or do a good deed, and He doesn’t love us less when we fail, or fall into sin. We come home to God by believing He is loving and willing to accept us. God’s love is like the father’s love in the parable of the prodigal son. Just like that Father, God is still willing to accept us and include us into His family, when we leave our own way of doing things and come home to him.
  • God’s mercies never come to an end: When God forgives us, He adopts us into His family. He isn’t just being kind to us on a one-time basis. He will not wake up tomorrow and say, “Okay that’s it. The visit is over. Pack your bags and move out!” When God receives us into His family He says, “This my son, was dead, but now he is alive!” You see, even when the prodigal was spiritually dead to his father, he was still considered a son. Now he has come home, that dead relationship became a living one. Our living relationship to God begins by our believing in our Father’s mercy because of the cross of Jesus. The blood of Jesus has paid the penalty of our sins forever and we don’t have to be afraid that God will ever change His mind.
  • Great is Your Faithfulness: We learn to be faithful to others, by seeing how faithful God has been to us. The prodigal came home thinking that he was going to work for his dad and live in the servant’s quarters. But his father had a different plan. He was given a welcome home party and then invited to come live back home. In that same way, we don’t work for God all week while living in the servant’s quarters and then go visit our dad once a week at His place on Sunday. Just like the father in the parable, God’s plan is for us to wake up every morning in His house, come down to breakfast at His table and spend our day, every day with Him! What an amazing, loving and faithful God we serve!

Every Day’s a Gift

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 1 Corinthians 1:26 ESV

This morning, I took a friend down for an appointment with her neurologist, because lately she has gotten lost on the way. Since the visit stretched on for an hour and a half, it gave me plenty of time to read, and to observe the many patients streaming in and out of the office. At one point my knees were getting stiff, so I went to the door and as I began to step outside, I noticed a man coming up the walk, trailed by an older gentleman, who I took to be his father. Since I was in the doorway anyway, I held it open, for them, and they both smiled and thanked me, but the older man also apologetically said, “Sorry, but I’m a little slow.” Once they entered, the receptionist had forms for them to fill out and the younger one, pulled out a bag full of prescription bottles and proceeded to make sure they were the same as those already printed out on the form. Then, apparently that being the only purpose of their visit, after they finished the paperwork, and answered a few questions, they turned and headed towards the door. Again, the older man trailed far behind, shuffling a bit with his feet. “Have a good day,” I said as they passed.

Not expecting anything else to be said, I turned back to reading the day’s news on my phone, but as the older man reached for the door, he turned, flashed a smile towards me and said,

Remember, every day’s a gift!”.

As they headed home, I realized that, while most of us had seen this man with sympathy, but few could see how aware he was of his position in life. Once he could have sprinted up the walk, flung open the door and been the one helping others to their seats. But now, hobbled by years, and a body that no longer cooperated with him he bravely was entering a new and challenging chapter in life. But in his weakness, he had recognized grace and saw that grace could help in his weakest state. He had come to recognize that God was over it all, and as firmly in control as He has ever been. He had seen that, life is a gift, and in fact, all that God had done was a gift, from creation to the Cross. God planted the garden, then gave it to man. God created Eve and presented her to Adam. God even feeds the birds he created and gave them songs to cheer us. He sent His only Son, then gave His most precious gift of all, the blood of Jesus Christ for our sins. And right now, God offers a much overlooked and amazing gift. God’s gift is for Muslims and Hindus, for pastors and paper boys, for children and especially for one man who can only shuffle up the walkway to his doctor’s office. He has found that while he can no longer work, play baseball, or even drive his own car, he can be grateful and give a smile to me and say, “Remember, every day’s a gift!”

Transformed – One Family at a Time

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV

A lot is said about revival: how we need it, what we need to do to get it or why we aren’t experiencing it. But, often we overlook the simple fact that God’s definition of revival is played out in real time in our real world, one person and one family at a time. This week at Life Care Center, we opened the service listening to the personal story of Gena and her daughter Lindsay. Gena is a single mom, whose teenage daughter Lindsay is autistic and nonverbal. In spite of those challenges, God put it on Gena’s heart to begin volunteering at Life Care Center for a few hours 2-3 days each week. Over four months, Gena even began helping us during our Friday service by passing out song books, opening our meeting with prayer and encouraging the residents to participate. So, when I heard that Joni and Friends ministry was having a family retreat nearby, I got Gena connected with the regional director. With the challenges of financing, scheduling and convincing her daughter Lindsay to go, I wasn’t sure if it would happen, but God worked out every one of those details. Yesterday, Gena shared what she called, the “Miraculous experience,” God did in her life and in Lindsay’s heart over that week. Gena’s testimony really touched all the residents at the nursing home. They could all easily identify with having special needs because they struggle with many of their own. And Gena’s story reminds all of us that no one is more delighted than Jesus to help those with special needs. The one who took time to listen to a father of a child struggling with seizures and forgave and healed a lame man lowered through the roof by his friends, truly loves those the world overlooks. He listens to our prayers, and He is willing to give grace to anyone who will reach out to Him. If you would like to learn more about nursing home ministry, consider liking or subscribing to our channel. To learn more about Joni and Friends Ministry you can find them on Facebook or at joniandfriends.org.