Pastor Brad’s Notebook

13 Jul

Posted at 10:38h in Devotionals, Uncategorized
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"And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." 2 Corinthians 12:7 "A thorn...was given to me." So, was this thorn then a gift from God? I normally view as gifts from God those things in which the abundance of life is found. If something happens to diminish or dilute that abundance, I definitely don't consider it a gift. At best I consider it to be a distraction - at worst, a danger. But here in Paul's personal letter to the Christians at Corinth, he completely reverses that which was my understanding. He says that the danger is the gift - the thorn is the abundance.

06 Jul

Posted at 10:22h in Devotionals
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"... the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." 1 Peter 3:4 Peter is drawing a contrast - a dinstiction between the things that are simply pretty to look at and the things that actually endure. He says that pretty, showy things such as silver and gold are corruptible, perishable - they won't last. If we desire something that is incorruptible, imperishable Peter tells us that we will have to seek for it among the things that are not showy or necessarily "pretty." In fact, he selects for us a most humble, simple and certainly unshowy example of that which is incorruptible and imperishable - "a gentle and quiet spirit."

04 Jul

Posted at 10:45h in Devotionals
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"Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." John 6:69 "We have come to believe and know..." A more strict reading would be, "We have believed and have known..." The thought that the Beloved Disciple is communicating is that there has been a development in his personal experience with Jesus. He began with just a simple faith, but has come to possess a confident knowledge. That's the way that it is in the Christian life. The order of our Christian experience is that we first believe and then we come to know.

24 Jun

Posted at 11:35h in Fridays Are For Family, Uncategorized
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Being raised in a pastor's home, I didn't have the opportunity or blessing of being raised near my grandparents like some people I know. For example, my wife spent the first part of her life living in a house that shared the same driveway with her grandparents and from birth until the time she moved to college living in the same town with both sets of grandparents. She tells stories of eating at her grandparents' house after church on Sunday mornings, summers at her Grandmother Robinson's house, planting strawberries with her Granddaddy Dowdy and huge family get-togethers in Gleason, TN.