Pastor Brad’s Notebook

05 Sep

Posted at 12:36h in Devotionals
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"Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: 'Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!' . . . Then the hand of the LORD was upon me there, and He said to me, "Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you." Ezekiel 3:12,22 Could anything be more anti-climatic? Here we find the extraordinary forsaken for the ordinary. The Spirit has taken Ezekiel up only to send him right back down. He was first lifted into a state of exhilaration - placed on the mountain's height far above the daily grind of this world - so that he could experience the immediate and empowering presence of God. But as soon as he got to the top of the mountain and saw the Lord's glory, God said, "I've brought you up here to tell you that you can't stay. Go back down to the dust and drudgery of the workaday world and I'll meet you there."

02 Sep

Posted at 11:27h in Fridays Are For Family
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I remember seeing a poster years ago explaining the stereotypical differences between men and women that was presented in what really was a sarcastic, smart aleck and rather demeaning manner. I'm sure you've probably seen a version of "The Rules" at some time or another. While there is some tongue-in-cheek humor to be found in the "The Rules," it certainly won't help you to have a happy home.

29 Aug

Posted at 12:14h in Devotionals
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"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." John 1:4 The light of Jesus has illumined the entire world, not by what He has done, but by what He was - "His life was the light of men." We often speak of the "life's work" of a man, but Jesus' life's work was His life. When I want to get light from other men, I read their books or listen to their works, but when I want to get light from Jesus, I simply look to Him. As odd as it might sound, it is not so much what He says that I treasure - as great as that is - I treasure Him. You see, the Sermon on the Mount is amazing, but the sermon's Preacher is even more amazing.

26 Aug

Posted at 12:04h in Fridays Are For Family
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This Sunday morning I will complete a short series of sermons on marriage. As I prayed about how to end this series I really struggled with exactly how to approach the last sermon subject - sex. Should I address those who have never been married and share how to stay pure until marriage or simply deal with the subject of sex within the confines of marriage? Since I have spent the past three weeks dealing with what might be considered the burdens of marriage - wives submitting to their husbands and husbands living with their wives with understanding - I decided to end with a blessing of marriage, what the writer of Hebrews calls "the marriage bed."