What are You Following?
Today (August 14, 2014), the following message was posted on our church signboard: FOLLOW US @PITMANUMC FOLLOW GOD @PRAYER OK. Admittedly, this might be a shameless attempt to bring in more followers to our church Twitter account. People follow Twitter accounts to read Tweets- short comments about whatever’s on the tweeter’s mind. Even if you’re not into Twitter, aren’t we all “Following” something throughout the day? When somebody cuts you off, an...
Read MoreRed Letter Bibles need to be Read!
Bibles come in all shapes and sizes- paperbacks, leather bound, thin paper, thick paper, pages with big margins, pages with study notes and devotions. And then of course there are many many different translations- King James, New King James, New International, New Revised Standard, New Living, and on and on. Some Bibles have a large font and are thick. Others have a small font but can slip into a pocket. Some Bibles print the words of Jesus in red text. Some Bibles have a family tree and...
Read MoreDeclarations of Independence (7/4/14)
As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July holiday, we express our thanks for the freedoms we are blessed with in this country. But God gives us more than civil freedoms. We’re surrounded by God’s grace and freedoms that are expressed in a variety of ways. Here are a few expressions of freedom… The US Declaration of Independence. The 4th of July holiday celebrates the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Click below to open up the entire text of the...
Read MoreGrace Rains Down
“Don’t Put Up Umbrellas When Grace Rains Down” What is Grace? How’s it Rain Down??? Grace is when we get something that we don’t deserve. Mercy is when we DON’T get something that we DO deserve. Genesis chapter 3 tells us that there’s something messed up within humankind that makes us want to love ourselves more than God. Somehow wired within us is this pride that makes us want to try to get along without God, or even to think that we could do a...
Read MoreFreedom isn’t Free!
EXERCISE YOUR FREEDOM OF RELIGION …THIS SUNDAY! Whenever a pastor’s family celebrates a wedding or a baptism, the congregation naturally asks the pastor if he is going to officiate or if he is going to defer to another pastor. A pastor announced that he was planning to travel to China to attend his son’s wedding. A parishioner asked the inevitable question… “are you going to officiate at your son’s wedding?”The question may not have been out of...
Read MoreSignboard: For God so Loved the World… (4/19/14)
For God So Loved the World… John 3:16 is a familiar passage; maybe one of the most frequently quoted ones in the Bible. We even see it at sporting events where people simply hold up signs saying nothing more than “3:16.” But have you ever considered what it REALLY means that “God so loved the world”??? Do we just chalk it up to some kind of 1960s hippy flower power sentiment, or can it be true that our infinite Creator who is holy and righteous, actually loves...
Read MoreFriend Request from Jesus!
Anyone who uses Facebook is familiar with the message saying: New Friend Request from ___. Confirm Not Now You have to make a choice. You have to click either “Confirm” or “Not Now.” Do you know this person? Do you want to know more about him? Do you want to share your posts with him or her? Do you want to have a relationship with this person? One of life’s greatest mysteries is that Jesus- the one and only Son of God- wants to have a...
Read MoreOh My God- What a Great Rate!
I recently received an ad about mortgages. The glossy letter was topped by the words, “OMG- What a great rate!” (For the “cell phone challenged” among us, “OMG” is a commonly used texting abbreviation meaning “Oh My God!”) Really? Invoking the Name of our Creator over an interest rate? Yes, God cares about every detail about our lives. But the casual use of the expression “Oh My God!” can’t help but bring the following...
Read MoreSignboard: Prayer is a Real Tweet (3/1/14)
Twitter… People tweet all kinds of short messages. Some of it is really important stuff like, “I stepped outside and saw a leaf blow across my front lawn.” If you follow this person, you’ll get the privilege of reading insights like these all of the time. But what if somebody really, really important followed you? What if that important person actually read and cared about all of your tweets? Well, guess what? The Bible says that God “follows...
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