10 May Sunday Video Preview – May 13, 2012
...
Pastor Brad’s Notebook
09 May Devotional Thought – Divine Dissatisfaction
"Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4
Does Jesus mean that those who sorrow most will be the most blessed? No doubt this was a strange and foreign thought to fall on the ears of His disciples. They believed that the only kind of blessing was that which came from the world and was evidenced by being clothed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day. They thought that a man who was stricken with sorrow must be smitten and afflicted by God. So, it must have been a very surprising and startling thing to hear Jesus say, "Blessed are those who mourn...".
07 May Devotional Thought – The Power In Being Poor
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3
To be "poor in spirit" seems a really strange goal for me to seek to attain. However, while it might at first appear to be easy and unheroic, it is actually one of the most difficult and heroic things in the world. You see, while it may be easy to be poor spiritually, that is really not the same thing as being poor in spirit.
04 May Fridays Are For Family – Teddy Bears And Moving Boxes
A little over a week ago we loaded up all of our worldly possessions (including teddy bears and baby dolls) and moved from the Upstate of South Carolina to Augusta, Georgia. It was a move that we firmly believe God led us to make, and one which we did with great excitement and expectation. While it was difficult in many ways to say goodbye to so many people that we had grown to love like family, there is also a calm assurance that comes when you know that you're walking in the center of God's will for your life.
While Kim and I faced the move with delight and determination, it didn't take us long to sense some of the struggles that our children were facing during the weeks that led up to the move, as well as on the actual moving day. We commented to each other on several occasions how Jack was acting out. He would get up in the middle of the night and wander through the house or get in bed with us, saying that he was too scared to sleep in his own bed. He began to backtalk and not obey when asked to do things around the house. In general, there was a melancholy, rebellious spirit that settled over him in the days leading up to our move.
02 May Devotional Thought – Consecrating Common Things
"Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year." Joshua 5:12
Joshua tells us that the miraculous manna suddenly ceased. That food which had come down from above since the days of the nation's infancy would now come up from the ground since that they had matured into manhood. The powerful Presence that had been their guide while they wandered in the wilderness would now give to them the power to guide themselves. Until now every man had been fed by the hand of God, but from this time forward every man was to feed one another. The manna would no longer miraculously and spontaneously fall from the skies. Now it would be the husband's responsibility to feed his wife, the parent's responsibility to feed their children, and the strong's responsibility to feed the weak. For forty years they had been nourished by way of the heavenly food, but from this point forward they would eat of the food of Canaan. In the absence of the miraculous manna they would gather from the food of the land.