PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: "THE LORD’S HOUSE!" Matthew 21:13 THE LORD’S HOUSE! Matthew 21:13 – Devotional Matthew 21:13 “And He said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” I recall an incident that occurred many years ago. Following the evening service I was standing in the center aisle of the church speaking with the pastor and a friend. Suddenly my friend’s young son came toward us doing somersaults. My friend was shocked and began to apologize to the pastor. I will never forget as the pastor responded; “Let him alone. It’s time we see some life in this church!” He was just kidding (I think), but sometimes I feel like many of our churches are congregations of the frozen chosen . I am not advocating undisciplined displays, but there needs to be a sense of life and vitality in our worship . If Jesus came into our services today, would He be pleased or would we be find Him calling
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PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: "SHOW AND TELL!" Psalm 25:4-5 SHOW AND TELL! Psalm 25:4-5 – Devotional Psalm 25:4-5 “ Show me Your ways, O Lord ; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” Much has changed in schools since I was a boy; and no, it was not before the flood when I attended school! Back in the olden days we used to have “show and tell.” Kids would bring some “treasure” and explain why it was a treasure and not simply junk. The Psalmist is praying to the Lord in today’s Scripture and asking for at least three things. In the passage I have underlined these three words: Show , teach, and lead . Let’s look at them. To show implies vision. It is seeing with our eyes or our senses. I enjoy being around blind people. They do not have optical vision, so they see with their sense of touch, hearing, or smell. Can they see? You better believe they do; often with
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “A DIFFERENT PEOPLE!” Exodus 8:23 A DIFFERENT PEOPLE! Exodus 8:23 – Devotional Exodus 8:23 “I will make a difference between My people and your people.” Listen to today’s Message of the Week by Pastor Cecil by clicking above on the play button. Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today and be a blessing! – – – Pastor Cecil Subscribe to Daily Evotional Share a blessing by inviting your friends and family to subscribe to Pastor Cecil’s Daily E-Votional by clicking on the Subscribe button above. Share the Lord with someone by directing them to https://PastorCecil.com .
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “OUR AWESOME GOD!” Exodus 6:3 OUR AWESOME GOD! Exodus 6:3 – Devotional Exodus 6:3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD (YHWH) JEHOVAH, I was not known to them.” Listen to today’s Message of the Week by Pastor Cecil by clicking above on the play button. Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today and be a blessing! – – – Pastor Cecil Subscribe to Daily Evotional Share a blessing by inviting your friends and family to subscribe to Pastor Cecil’s Daily E-Votional by clicking on the Subscribe button above. Share the Lord with someone by directing them to https://PastorCecil.com .
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: "OH LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO!" 1 John 3:1 OH LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! 1 John 3:1 – Devotional 1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Take a few minutes today to meditate on these lyrics by George Matheson in the beautiful beloved hymn, Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go. O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be. O light that foll’west all my way, I yield my flick’ring torch to thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day May brighter, fairer be. O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be. O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “RADIATE THE JOY OF THE LORD!” Philippians 4:6 RADIATE THE JOY OF THE LORD! Philippians 4:6 – Devotional Philippians 4:6 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to everyone. The Lord is very near.” We have far too many church members who look like they have just lost their last friend. They not only have sour expressions on their faces, they have sour personalities to match. Paul repeatedly urges his readers to rejoice. The word he uses for rejoice is the Greek word chaírō . It is pronounced khah’-ee-ro , and it means to be joyous and happy. That means looking like you are happy. If you have the joy of Jesus in your heart, you need to let your face know about it and show it! For those who have never placed their trust in Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life, there is little or nothing to be happy about. The things of this earth grow dimmer and dimmer as life slips away. As true be
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “THERE MAY YET BE TIME!” Isaiah 55:6 THERE MAY YET BE TIME! Isaiah 55:6 – Devotional Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” Across the years I have been in many evangelistic services where an invitation was given for sinners to come forward to receive Christ as their personal Savior. There were many who opened their heart’s door and received Jesus as their Savior. As we rejoiced at those who said, yes, we were broken hearted by those who dug in their emotional heels and refused to yield to the Holy Spirit’s urging to come to Christ for eternal life. One of those who refused to respond was my uncle, Harold. On the closing service of a revival he stood with tears flowing down his cheeks as his son and I begged him to go forward and receive Christ as his Lord. The final chords of the invitation hymn silenced and the benediction was given so helpers could pray with those who knelt at the altar. As
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “FRUITFUL FURLOUGH!” 1 Peter 3:15 FRUITFUL FURLOUGH! 1 Peter 3:15 – Devotional 1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” As a boy I was exposed to visiting missionaries who were home on furlough from their assignment on some mission station in the world. I had the mistaken idea that they were home for one year to do nothing but rest and recuperate. Beep! Most of these faithful servants work so hard sharing their mission message with church after church that they return to the mission field exhausted! That may not always be the case, but there is much truth to it. I had a friend whose family had been missionaries to Swaziland, Africa, for many years. One of these faithful servants had just returned home for his furlough when he was hospitalized with a ruptured appendix. Ouch! He was complaining to the Lord about his
PASTOR CECIL · Pastor Cecil's Devotional: “FOUND FAVORABLE!” Psalm 19:14 FOUND FAVORABLE! Psalm 19:14 – Devotional Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be found favorable in Your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer!” How do we find favor in God’s sight? That is a very good question and many people much wiser than I have grappled with the question. As near as I can determine the words of today’s Scripture comes as close to the answer as I can find. What we say, in large part, is the result of what we have been thinking. I know there are times when we speak without thinking (and are usually humiliated when we realize what we said). But generally our words express our thought processes. David was described as a man after God’s own heart. He was certainly not perfect, just as we are not perfect, but he certainly can be described as a man who had a heart for God! In living and serving my Savior I desire to be found favorable in His sight! I