Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 10.11-   Here's a story edited by Shai K. which I heard many years ago. A scientist sat and worked, when suddenly approached by his 9-year-old son, determined to help him in his work. The scientist, who would rather not be interrupted, tried to ask his son to go somewhere else for a while, but when he saw that he would not, he started looking for something that can keep a child busy. He grabbed and tore a page from a booklet with world map, cut it into small pieces, and gave it to the child with a roll of duct tape. "Do you like puzzles?" he said, "Take this dismantled world map and see if you can fix it yourself." He was confident the child would take many days to assemble the map, but a few hours later, he heard the voice of the son calling him "Dad, I'm done, I put everything back together." At first, he did not believe it: "It isn't possible at the age of nine to reconstruct a map of the world he had never seen before!" He thoug...

 10.11- Today is my mom and dad's Anniversary. This story came into my mind today. A big cat saw a little cat chasing its tail and asked, "Why are you chasing your tail so?" Said the kitten, "I have learned that the best thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is my tail. There, I am chasing it and when I catch it, I shall have happiness" Said the old cat, "My son, I too have paid attention to the problems of the universe. I, too, have judged that happiness is in my tail. But I have noticed that whenever I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, and when I go about my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go." My parents celebrated over sixty years of marriage and used a principle. "Rejoice in the Lord Always, Again I say Rejoice." Work. Play. Enjoy the wife of your youth. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad in heaven.   Phillipians 4. 4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5  Let your ge...

 10.10-   Fresh Faith John 20:24-29 James Banks When our son was struggling with heroin addiction, if you had told me God would one day use our experience to encourage other families who face these kinds of battles, I would have had trouble believing it. God has a way of bringing good out of difficult circumstances that isn’t always easy to see when you are going through them. The apostle Thomas also didn’t expect God to bring good out of the greatest challenge of his faith – Jesus’ crucifixion. Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when Jesus came to them after the resurrection, and in his deep grief he insisted, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were . . . I will not believe” (John 20:25). But later, when Jesus appeared to all the disciples together, out of the dust of Thomas’ doubts God’s Spirit would inspire a striking statement of faith. When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God: (John 20:28), he was ...

 10.9-   The Day I Couldn’t Pray Romans 8:22-26 Randy Kilgore In November 2015, I learned I needed open-heart surgery. Surprised and a little shaken, I was naturally drawn to think about the possibility of death. Were there relationships I needed to mend? Were there financial matters I needed to attend to for my family? Was there work that could be done ahead of time? And what about work that couldn’t wait; who should I hand that off to? It was a time to both act and pray. Except I couldn’t do either. My body was so weary and my mind so fatigued that even the simplest of tasks seemed beyond my strength. Perhaps most surprising, when I tried to pray, my thoughts would drift to the discomfort, or the shallow breathing caused by the damaged heart made me fall asleep. It was frustrating. I couldn’t work and I couldn’t even ask God to let me live so I could spend more time with my family! The inability to pray troubled me most. But as with all ...

 10.8-     Seeing God John 14:1-12 David Roper Author and pastor Erwin Lutzer recounts a story about television show host Art Linkletter and a little boy who was drawing a picture of God. Amused, Linkletter said, “You can’t do that because nobody knows what God looks like.” “They will when I get through!” the boy declared. We may wonder, What is God like? Is He good? Is He kind? Does He care? The simple answer to those questions is Jesus’ response to Philip’s request: “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father? (John 14:8-9). If you ever get hungry to see God, look at Jesus. “The Son is the image of the invisible God,” said Paul (Colossians 1:15). Read through the four gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Think deeply about what Jesus did and said: “Draw” your own mental picture of God as y...

 10.7- The USA has seen some amazing things since 3.11.20. We have seen all schools and universities shut down in person classes. We have seen all unessential businesses shut down to try to keep the COVID 19 from killing everyone. It has killed over 204,000 people. It has reduced the health of many more. It has caused my wife and I to be alone together in our house for nearly seven months. The good news is that God has empowered some healers, Doctors, Nurses, EMT’s, Policemen, Firemen to work even harder at greater risk to their own lives. I read of doctors and nurses who have young children who have died from COVID 19. This is an example of their mercy for other people meaning more to them than their own lives. John 15. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  

 10.6-   If you are reading this and you are a Christian I hope you can appreciate this verse from Jesus " I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." What’s on my mind for my Christian brothers and sisters to consider. Jesus people are one flock. Not two flocks. Jews and Gentiles. Not two flocks. Americans Christians and Other nation Christians. One flock. Not Democrat Christians and Republican Christians. One flock. Not poor Christians and rich Christians. One flock. Men and women flocks. One flock. White flock, Black Flock, Brown Flock. No. One Shepherd. One flock.   John 10. 16  I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17  For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18  No one has taken ...

 10.5-   Where did they go? Sometimes I want to ask unbelievers where they believe people’s souls go when they die. As Christians, our teacher has said that they go home to their heavenly Father. That is a hope expressed even in the Jewish religion for the last 4,000 years. Yesterday I was able to attend by video a memorial service for one of my ministry professors, Tom Gaumer. His daughter, Vicki, said that when she was deeply studying for a college level course on the gospel of John that her father had connected more deeply with her there more than anywhere because of his love for God, Scripture and being a teacher. She had needed his help to understand and write a term paper. She said that at his core he was a teacher and he loved to bond with his students. She said, “He treated me with dignity and respect and taught me as a equal.” The gospel that is genuinely taught by a sincere teacher is transformational to the teacher first before the class is taught. The teacher i...