Nursing Home Ministry

He Lives!

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  John 20:17 ESV

Though some may consider the song. “He Lives!” a less important Easter song, due to the lack of Biblical context, it makes an important point. Both our lives and our faith are like two-sided coins. On the face of the coin is of course, the image of Jesus. That is because both salvation and grace must begin in Heaven with God, and they need to help of ours. But when God begins His work in us, what He has done by grace will be reflected in our hearts. In the words of Alfred Ackley’s song, I know that He is leading through all the stormy blast,” because “He lives within my heart!” Is He really living in your heart? If you aren’t sure of the answer, then there is no better time to receive Him with praise than on Palm Sunday weekend. Why not humble your hearts for a moment and kneel down and pray right now? There is always hope, because God will always help us to find Him, when we are truthfully looking for Him with all our hearts!

He Arose at Life Care

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 ESV

Sometimes I try to imagine, what t would have been like on that first resurrection morning and wish I had been able to see Jesus with my own eyes and hear HIs voice, saying, “Fear not.” Thomas wished the very same thing, and eight days later, Jesus obliged that wish and showed Himself to Thomas and invited him to come and touch His wounds. What a privilege Thomas had to be able to see and touch Jesus, but how humbling that must have been for him to also hear, “More blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.” So, on those days when, like me, you wish you had been there, remember that you are more blessed than even those eleven disciples, and have an opportunity for an even greater joy. In singing Robert Lowry’s rousing hymn, “He Arose”, it gives us me the sense of what it must have been like to rejoice in seeing Jesus just like the first believers. We get to lift our voices with such a joyful uncompromising praise that my heart is filled to the brim. The most amazing miracle of all time – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead changes both all of history and the history of our lives, because we believe in Him. I hope that you will enjoy seeing the many faces of our special friends in assisted living as they joined with us today. But no matter whether you sit in a wheelchair in a long term care facility or in the corner office of a giant corporation, there is no greater hope that you can have, than to know Jesus. He rose from the dead and has come to offer us eternal life, if we will put our trust in Him. “He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!”

Kept in God’s Pocket

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

After a brief bout of sickness, it was great being back with my friends at Life Care Center this Friday. After we sang the hymn, “Take my life and let it be” I shared about what it means to be “Consecrated, Lord to Thee.” Religious sounding words like consecration, or as the New Testament calls it, sanctification, may make us think of some special ceremony. But the wonderful reality behind consecration is far more personal than some formal ritual. When Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, He paid the price for us to belong personally to Him. Another way of looking at is is that, just as my car keys are kept in my pocket, because that Red Kia you see parked outside is mine (or actually mine and Nancy’s!), God puts us in His pocket. I keep my keys safe, because they are precious and of great value to our family. In that same way, when God receives from us the key to our hearts, He takes us and puts us in His pocket. There He keeps us safe, because from that moment on we are His! Have you surrendered the keys of your heart to Jesus? There is no experience more personal, than for Him to receive you into His family and to be exclusively be set apart for Him!