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Sunday, October 26, 2025

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE SINNERS!

 

Sunday, October 26, 2025

 

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE SINNERS!

 

Luke 7:37-38

37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

 

            The woman is only described by Luke as “a sinner.” Her sins are not named but we get the impression that she was what we might call a “street walker” with quite a reputation. Her tears, her humble attitude, and her expensive gift all spoke of a changed heart. We are not told when or how this woman came to repentance. Perhaps it was when Jesus gave the invitation to the weary to “come unto me … and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

 

          When our sins become so heavy that we can no longer carry them, we must find a place to lay them down. When our rebellion is found to be more painful than returning to divine authority, we will return. When the grief for what we have done far outweighs the pleasure we had sought, we will cry.

 

          All my friends are sinners! Every one of them. I’ve seen many of them at the altar weeping.  As their pastor, I am both glad and sad to see these tears. I am glad because I know that God welcomes the humble and resists the stubborn. (1 Peter 5:5) I am sad because I know the pain they are going through. I have been there many times myself.

 

          Michael Trimble, a British professor at the Institute of Neurology in London, tells us, humans are the only creatures who cry for emotional reasons. I have no reason to challenge his research. Humans cry while other animals do not. It makes one wonder just what it is that God placed inside of man that makes him different. I think it is our capacity for knowing and responding to God.

 

O Hope Of Every Contrite Heart

 

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

 

Dear Lord, How I remember, in my struggles against your will, the day I could not sustain my rebellion. I surrendered and you took me in. O the tears that fell in that precious hour – that hour when you smiled upon me in forgiveness. Thank you, Lord. AMEN

 

Friday, October 24, 2025

PURE RELIGION

 

Friday, October 24, 2025

 

PURE RELIGION

 

James 1:22-27  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 

James 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

 

          Verse 27 is a summary of verses 22-26. Verse 26 offers a clue as to the point James constantly presses home. Religion and true faith are two different things. “Seem to be. —Imagine himself to be religious; a difficult term, because its meanings have been subject to change. “The Greek adjective is one which expresses the outward, ritual side of religion, answering to ‘godliness’ as the inward.” [Preacher’s Homiletic Commentary]

 

          In the contest of denominations and doctrines, nothing beats pure religion as described by James. It has two focuses. One is outward because it ministers where there can be no profit, gain, or hope of reimbursement. It is costly and is done in obscurity. It produces no applause or reward. The other is inward and very difficult to perform. “Unspotted” is the Greek aspilos (as-pee-los) and means “morally unblemished.” This part of pure religion will prohibit the throwing of stones! (See John 8:7).

 

          Pure religion is not PRODUCED it is RECEIVED. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? Rev 7:13 

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:14 

 

Dear Lord, let me not be self-deceived regarding my faith. Thank you for the rich and pure gift of salvation. AMEN

 

Thursday, October 23, 2025

LOOK FOR ME!

 

Thursday, October 23, 2025

 

LOOK FOR ME!

 

Gen 32:10

10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

 

Rev 22:3-4

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

 

          God often wakes me up with a single thought, or some phrase, or a song. This morning it was and still is an old gospel quartet song. “Look for me, for I will be there too.”

 

          Eventually we learn to live without those who have gone because their sweet memory lingers in our hearts and minds. Mother and Dad are gone. Dear friends are gone and one day I too will be gone. Gone to that blessed land described by John where God sits on his throne. The half of that has never been told.

 

Look For Me

Writer: Rusty Goodman

 

When you finally make your entrance to that City

Of jasper walls and

bright golden avenues

When you behold all its beauty and its splendor

Remember there’s just one request I make of you

 

Chorus 

Look for me, for I will be there too

I realize when you arrive

 there’ll be so much to view

After you’ve been there ten thousand years,

a million, maybe two

Look for me, for I will be there too

 

Dear Lord, the gravitational pull of this old world is heavy. Its corruption torments, but one day we will be with you. We will bow in worship with new bodies and cleansed hearts. Thank you, Lord, for I will be there too. AMEN

 

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

HOW TO MAKE MONEY

 

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

 

HOW TO MAKE MONEY

 

Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

 

                This is not so much a promise as it is a principle. Some resent giving material wealth to an invisible God but it seems clear to me that the giving referred to here is giving to relieve the need of others for so it is indicated in the context.

 

Luke 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 

Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 

 

                Generosity does not make one poor. The Bible indicates that the opposite is true instead. Pro 11:24  “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” Another translation puts it this way: “There is the one who [generously] scatters [abroad], and yet increases all the more; And there is the one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want and poverty.” Amplified Bible

 

Lord, I have been the recipient of much. Let me give without fear and without reservation. AMEN

 

Monday, September 29, 2025

Monday, September 29, 2025

 

Monday, September 29, 2025

 

BEGINNING TODAY, AND FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, I MUST BRIEFLY TAKE A BREAK FROM THESE DEVOTIONALS. I AM HAVING A KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY AND WILL RESUME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IN THE MEAN TIME, YOU MAY ACCESS OVER 3,000 CLASSIC DEVOTIONALS AT THE LINK BELOW.

http://backsideofthepulpit.blogspot.com

 

Sunday, September 28, 2025

UNWORTHY

 

Sunday, September 28, 2025

 

UNWORTHY

 

Gen_32:10 

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

 

          Jacob the ‘heal catcher’ or supplanter felt as he truly was, undeserving, and unworthy. I think that to be truly thankful a person must feel the smallness of self and embrace the enormity of God. We must leave hubris behind and embrace humility.

 

UNWORTHY

Unworthy am I of the grace that He gave,

Unworthy to hold to His hand;

Amazed that a King would reach down to a slave,

This love I cannot understand.

 

Chorus

Unworthy, unworthy, a beggar;

In bondage and alone;

But He made me worthy and now by His grace,

His mercy has made me His own.

 

Thank you, Lord, for an abundance undeserved. AMEN

 

Saturday, September 27, 2025

THREE GOALS OF MINISTRY

 

Saturday, September 27, 2025

 

THREE GOALS OF MINISTRY

 

2Timothy 4:2 

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

          Some of my followers are so accustomed to these daily devotionals that they assume something dreadful has happened if I should miss one or two but life has plenty of interruptions and I apologize for any that are tardy or absent. Having said that, I want you to know that I have three goals for my devotionals. They are as follows.

 

          To Evangelize! The Great Commission has but one challenging verb and that is to “make disciples.” To reach the lost and to win souls for Christ is the foundational goal of preaching. If your Christianity is not outreaching then it has forgotten its mission.

 

          To Educate! When Paul said, “I would not have you to be ignorant,” he was addressing believers who needed instruction. Delivering pure doctrine and correcting false notions is a major part of pastoral ministry because it promotes both evangelism and encouragement.

 

          To Encourage! Because believers are strangers and pilgrims in a world that is now foreign to them, we are admonished to encourage one another. The words of Fanny Crosby’s old hymn Rescue the Perishing confirm these three goals.

 

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,

snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;

weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,

tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.

 

Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,

feelings lie buried that grace can restore;

touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,

cords that are broken will vibrate once more. [Refrain]

 

Refrain:

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying;

Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.

 

Lord, mold my life around these three goals. AMEN

 

Friday, September 26, 2025

THE COMFORT OF HIS PRESENCE!

 

Friday, September 26, 2025

 

THE COMFORT OF HIS PRESENCE!

 

Ps 35:22

O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

 

Acts 17:25-28

…he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being…

 

The most difficult times for me are those times when God seems far away. Oh, I know with my mind that He is everywhere and that He is near, even in my heart, but there are times when I need Him so badly to be within reach. I need to sense His presence and I need to hear his voice. Like a child who pillows his head on his mother’s breast I need to feel His breath on my cheek. Many are the times when my soul cries out to God; for the comfort of His presence.

 

Many are the songs that have been written and sung about our human longing for the divine. “Abide with me” is one and “Nearer my God to Thee” is another. These songs remind us of the great gulf that sin has now fixed between us and our God. Yet our very soul was made for the same fellowship with Him that Adam enjoyed in the cool of the evening.

 

Job deeply felt the absence of God although God was every moment observing his calamity. It may seem cruel to us, but God had set in motion a test for Job that would put Satan to open shame. Job was required to remain faithful to an absentee God. So it seems often with us. We feel that we must walk the trail of tears alone yet God is there and He will arrive just in time.

 

Ps 56:3

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

 

Dear Lord, I know with my head that Thou art there but my spirit needs Thee now. Be not far from me. AMEN

 


Thursday, September 25, 2025

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!

 

Thursday, September 25, 2025

 

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!

 

Ps 138:8

8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me:

 

Comfortingly, the Hebrew word translated “perfect” here is the word gamar (gaw-mar') and means “to end.” The idea is that God will bring all that concerns us to a successful completion. The New Testament confirms this thought in the following verse.

 

Phil 1:6

6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

 

The Greek word for “will perform” is epiteleo (ep-ee-tel-eh'-o) and means to fulfill further (or completely), i.e. execute; by implication, to terminate, to bring to a full and satisfying end.

 

God will keep working on me until He is satisfied with the finished product. He will keep on working in spite of my ignorance until wisdom begins to develop in me. He will keep on working in spite of my weakness because His strength is made perfect. He will keep on working in spite of my stubbornness because He is a firm but loving heavenly Father. He will bring me to maturity.

 

God will keep on fine tuning His purpose for me. He will bring into my life those who can influence me for good even if the circumstances of these encounters seem bad at the time. He will shut down some of my pet projects because they do not fit His purposes for me. He will lead me through hard paths because they end in the accomplishment of His greater purpose. He will allow pain and restrain pleasure so that I may become mature.

 

 

Rom 8:28

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

Dear Lord, thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for seeing value in me that I cannot see. Thank you for changing my good plans for your better plans. AMEN

 

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

HEALER OF BROKEN HEARTS

 

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

 

HEALER OF BROKEN HEARTS

 

Exodus15:26 

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

 

          In 1975 Georgia Stiffler wrote a song entitled Healer of Broken Hearts. I share it with you today because I know that all of us need healing.

 

He's the healer of broken hearts

He'll mend your broken dreams

He'll pick up the threads

Of your broken life

And He'll weave them together again

 

To your soul, He'll bring peace and joy

A friend in need He'll be

The healer of broken hearts

Is Jesus of Galilee

 

To your soul, He'll bring peace and joy

A friend in need He'll be

The healer of broken hearts

Is Jesus of Galilee

 

John 5:15 

The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 

 

Lord, let thy healing be applied to those who need you today. AMEN