2016 Spring Break - Myrtle Beach

In March we had scheduled a spring break week at Myrtle Beach with our granddaughters.  It did not work for them to join us, but Paul and I decided to go anyway, as we really do enjoy Myrtle Beach in the off season.  We've never been there when the summer crowd is there, when I'm sure it's bumper to bumper traffic.  We drove through the northeast corner of the Smokey Mountains, down through Asheville, NC, and out to the eastern seaboard.

Broadway at the Beach is a large shopping, eating, and entertainment complex.  A fun place to walk around.  Sometimes a hubby has to wait while the wife shops.  That's the Mystery House  on left, and a restaurant to the right.  We also enjoyed the Barefoot Landing complex, as well as the Tanger Outlet Mall.  But our favorite place to be was at our ocean side resort.

I loved getting up for the sunrise and walking along the ocean.  I was never alone...there were always birds to keep me company if not other people or dog walkers.  It was such a pleasure to hear the ocean waves roll in.

Our resort condo was on the 12th floor of the Marriott's OceanWatch resort.  We had a room looking directly out to the ocean, overlooking one of the pools on the complex.  I would sit out on the balcony in the mornings to have my devotional time, and listen to the sound of the ocean.  God our Creator has given us a beautiful world in which to worship Him!  Pause and do just that as you watch this video:

Back in Michigan!

Just a quick update post to say we are back home in Michigan after our winter get away to Crossville, TN.  Glad to be back home, but will be happier when it warms up to stay!  I plan to blog about our week in Charlotte, NC...later.

Journey 2016 - Journey Beyond the Tomb - 3/27/16

Five Facts About Jesus:

1.  Jesus died on the cross.  They did not have to break the legs of Jesus, for He was already dead.  When He said, "It is finished!" He committed His spirit to His Father.

It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.  (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.)  These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the one they pierced.”  (John 19:31-37NLT)

2.  Jesus' body was laid in the tomb.  Sabbath began at 6 pm on Friday.  All the preparation for the Passover had to be done before 6 pm.

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes.  Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before.  And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.   (John 19:38-42NLT)

3.  Jesus laid in the tomb for three days.  He was placed in the tomb before 6 pm on Friday, was there all day on Saturday, and was raised on Sunday, the first day of the week.  In Jewish tradition, any part of a day equated to a whole day.

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.  They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.   (Luke 24:1-2NLT)

4.  False theories cannot explain away the resurrection.  

5.  Christ did arise from the dead.  He appeared to many witnesses.  Christianity is the strongest religion ever.  We serve a risen Savior!

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.  (1 Corinthians 15:20NLT)

This concludes the sermon series "Journey 2016" by Rev. Greg Keller, Crossville First Church of the Nazarene, Crossville, TN.

Journey 2016 - Journey to Gethsemane - 3/13/16

Text:  Matthew 26:42
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

1.  Jesus' Prayer in the Garden

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.

Jesus was in agony.  His sweat was like drops of blood.  Jesus was human and suffered as much as we would have.  He said, "Father, if there is any other way...."  But in order for us to be saved from our sins, it was impossible.  He prayed God's will be done.  No one ever suffered like Jesus did.

2.  Jesus' Cup

His cup was of suffering, sin, abandonment.  He was despised and rejected by men.  Isaiah 53:3:

He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.
God, who is holy, could not look on sin on the cross.  He turned His back of Jesus.

3.  Jesus' Commitment

Jesus trusted the Father.  “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”  Jesus was 100% in line with the Father's plan.

What a sober and touching sermon Rev. Kellar preached this Sunday.  We head to the cross on Palm Sunday.

Journey 2016 - Journey to the Upper Room 3-6-2016

Text:  John 13:1(NLT)

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

One of the last things Jesus did before his death was to celebrate the Passover meal with his disciples in the Upper Room.  The Lord's Supper, the celebration of Passover in the Upper Room, is a Christian celebration.  A time to stop and reflect on what Jesus has said to his disciples, and also says to us.

Luke 22:7-13:

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed.  Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”

"Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

1.  Preparation for Passover

The slaughter of the sacrificial lamb occurred at the Temple for the forgiveness of sins.  Then the meat was taken to be roasted for the Passover meal.  There is much symbolism in the Passover meal:

• Lamb - symbolic of the blood on the door posts of the Israelites so the death angel would pass over them as they ate their final meal before fleeing Egypt.
• Unleavened Bread - they did not take time for bread to rise with leaven, for they would need to be ready to flee in haste.
• Bowl of Salt Water - represents the tears shed in Egypt over their hard labor.
• Bitter Herbs - reminder of the bitterness of their days in slavery.

2.  Participants with Jesus in the Lord's Supper

• the twelve disciples were there, a group of many diversities:

1. two sets of brothers - Simon and Andrew; James and John
2. eleven were from Galilee...all except Judas Iscariot, who was born in a small town in Southern Judea
3. five were fishermen
4. one was a tax collector
5. one was a zealot
6. three were considered the inner circle of Jesus:  Peter, James, and John

• Jesus loved them all, just as he loves us all as we are.  His prevailing love filled the Upper Room.
• Jesus washed their feet.
• Jesus came them a new command:  So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35)

3.  Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure

• “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. (John 14:1-3)  Jesus pours his heart out to them as he prepares them for his departure.
• “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.  Jesus was assuring his disciples he would not leave them alone.
• “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.  Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.  (John 15:1-5)  
• “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.  (John 15:18-21)  Jesus reminded the disciples in this world they would have difficulties, but they needed to remain in him, to abide in him and they would overcome.
• Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:31-33)  Jesus knew the disciples would all desert him when it came down to him facing the trial and the cross.  But he wanted them to know they could still have forgiveness and peace as long as they trusted in him.
• After speaking with the disciples so intimately about what was ahead for them, he prayed his final prayer for the disciples.  John 17:6-26:  

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.

"My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.  During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

"Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.  I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.  Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.  Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.  And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.  Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

The prayer that Jesus prayed for his disciples, was also prayed for us...for all of his followers.  “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.  

Next week we will Journey to Gethsemane.  Be in prayer as you approach Easter, stopping to take time to reflect on the greatest Sacrifice ever made for us.  Jesus loves us that much!  What can we do in return for the price paid for our sins?  I choose to live simply and finish well, to be able to hear the words of the Father, "Well, done, my good and faithful servant!"  One day...not too far off...I will be in the presence of the One who gave his all for me!  And I will be with him eternally!!  Praise his holy name!!

Journey 2016 - Journey to Jerusalem 2-28-16

For the next five Sundays, including yesterday, up through Easter, our Journey 2016 will be focusing on the events in the last days of Jesus' life on earth.  Today we Journey to Jerusalem.

Text:  Luke 19:37-38New Living Translation (NLT)

When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.  "Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"    

People on the journey to Jerusalem were excited.  They were going to the Holy City for the Passover.  Many had heard that Jesus would be there, or at least were hoping He would be.  They had heard about the miracles he had performed, or perhaps even saw Jesus when He touched the blind man and gave him his sight; or healed the crippled man; or even raised Lazarus from the dead.  Some of the people had heard Jesus speak at the Sea of Galilee when He gave His "sermon on the mount".  They began to have hope that perhaps Jesus was the promised Messiah, or their new coming King.  They came to Jerusalem wondering and asking each other "Who is this Jesus?"  There are four answers to this question that we give our attention to today:

1.  Jesus is the prophet from Nazareth...a great teacher.  However, Jesus wasn't only the messenger, He was the message!

2.   Jesus is a great miracle worker.  He did do a lot of miracles, but He is still a miracle working God today.  His greatest miracle of all is to take a sinner and transform him into a child of God.  He heals both the body and the soul.

3.  Jesus in the King of Israel.  When Jesus approached Jerusalem, people laid palm branches down before him for his donkey to walk on.  Palm branches back then were a symbol of a political nation, like our flag is to the United States.  Jesus was the King coming to bring peace to their nation, and people honored Him with the palm branches.

4.  Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Jesus descended into Jerusalem on a Sunday, the one before Passover.  People came to Jerusalem on that day to select a lamb for their sacrifice on Passover.  It had to be as flawless as possible.  Jesus came on selection day as the Lamb who would be sacrificed on the cross for all people, to cover the sins of all.  He was the perfect Lamb of God.  In Him there were no spots or blemishes, no sin.   

We have arrived in Jerusalem.  Next week we will journey to the Upper Room.

(This material I am sharing on Journey 2016 is a summary of the sermons our Pastor has been preaching since the first Sunday in January.)        

Journey 2016 - Concentrate

Luke 9:51 (NLT):
As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

To concentrate is to focus with intensity.

Jesus' ministry was around the Sea of Galilee with Capernaum being His home base.  The last six to seven months of his ministry He had the goal to go to Jerusalem.  He was preparing to face the cross, but His gaze was set on returning to His Father in heaven.  He knew He must go to Jerusalem to fulfill His Father's will.  

There are five things we must know in order to concentrate on our journey.

1.  Be clear about God's will for your life.  If you do not know, pray through until God reveals it to you.

2.  Be willing to pay the price to do God's will.  There are no discounts or bargain sales in choosing to follow His will.

3.  Mark 8:33 - Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.  Just like Jesus had to rebuke Peter, we will also face discouragement along the way.  We cannot allow opinions of others to distract us or sway us away from what God has called us to do.  

4.  Do not allow a bad attitude or spirit to get in the way.  We must not be ready to "zap" others with a critical spirit, or be filled with pride.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (Philippians 2:5)

5.  Know Whose you are and where you are going, keeping your eyes on Jesus.  James 4:13-16:  Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

Next week the Pastor's sermons will start focusing on the Easter events.  We will be heading to Jerusalem in our Journey 2016.