Today's Daily Word

Whether you believe you can or can't either way you're right!

2011-05-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

This famous line is by Henry Ford. I love that statement because so often we end up sitting in the death trap of our own doubt. Doubt is scary monster that we should all run from. When we live in a state of doubt, our doubt will most certainly capture us and hold us ransom. The bible says that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us. This means that there's nothing that

When God Smiles

2011-05-10T07:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how many of us here in central Ohio have noticed or not. I don't want to jinks it or anything but the sun has shined for about four days straight. We whined and complained about the rain. We talked about building arks and God forgetting his promise with the whole rainbow thing. But how many of us have taken the time to thank him for the smile he's shown us the past couple of days

What is faith?

2011-05-09T07:12:00.000-04:00

Honestly - faith isn't really something that's hard to come by in our world. People practice the basics of faith every day. You get in a car and you exercise faith that the wide pedal on the left (or middle for you manual drivers) will stop you. You put faith in that chair you're sitting in to read this. Granted it's easy to have faith in something that you've seen work a million times or

Grace PLUS?

2011-05-06T07:04:00.000-04:00

One of the most popular misconceptions about grace is that it needs something added to it. Honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. There's a passage in scripture that says My grace is sufficient for you. There's another that indicates saved by grace, through faith in Christ, and this not by works so that no one can boast. I believe these two passages really cut through the garbage

I'm rich! And so are you!

2011-05-04T06:28:00.000-04:00

Growing up I learned that grace could be defined as God's riches at Christ's expense. It's one of those nice acrostic things. That phrase works really well for those of us who know God's riches but for those who don't know God's riches or was it cost Christ - it's somewhat meaningless. But we're going to stick with it today. We're going to look at how rich we really are. It never ceases to

Grace = a better life now!

2011-05-03T06:20:00.000-04:00

There's a great bible verse in 2 Corinthians that contains a quote from Jesus that says my grace is sufficient for you. I've got to be honest though. Some days it sure doesn't feel like it. Some days I'm not sure if God's grace really is enough. Some days I want God's grace and some kind of assurance for the future. Some days I want to know that it's all going to work out ok, and by ok I mean

Grace...what is it?

2011-05-02T07:11:00.000-04:00

This week we focus on the grace of God. All week at Living Truth here in Marysville, we're looking at the grace of God. As a matter of fact, I left everyone with an assignment after church yesterday. The assignment was to simply look for times that you have received something good that you didn't deserve. You see that's the definition that we're using for grace - getting the good we don't

When God Breathes

2011-04-29T06:24:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite concepts in all of scripture is that the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God. With a mere breath he brought life to a ball of dust, then named it Adam. With a simple breath he assured Elijah that he was present. With a breath he began a movement of people that we would end up calling the church. And over the past couple of weeks his breath has been a bit too much for us

A watched pot never boils...

2011-04-28T06:55:00.000-04:00

I have to be honest - waiting is not something I do very well. Not at all. Partially my personality, partially my gender, partially my fast-paced life - but I just don't like to slow down and wait. But there's something worse than waiting - watching the pot for it to boil. We all know the saying a watched pot never boils. And we all know that this is not true by any means. But we do know

When broken doors open doors

2011-04-27T00:40:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of months ago now that I was looking out my home office window after hearing a loud crash. As it turned out my neighbor had an unfortunate experience with their garage door - it twisted off track and had come down at a diagonal. Now admittedly I'm not knowledgeable about garage doors at all but I am adventurous and always willing to learn. I'm what many call a "jack of all

I want it all!

2011-04-25T07:17:00.000-04:00

I've had those days when it seems like everything I see someone else have - I instantly want for myself. Not want in the "I'll just take it" way but want in a way that makes me less content with my own status in life. Honestly, there's always something out there that we want. There's a new gadget. An upgraded whatever..an improved something...a better thing. I personally don't believe that

How big are you?

2011-04-22T07:36:00.000-04:00

The other day I asked my daughter of 17 months how big she was. In an instant she lifted her hands straight up as if to say - I'm this big, look at me. It was cute. I believe this is what nearly every child does when asked how big they are. You see when we show how big we are, it's about us. We elevate ourselves and lift ourselves up. It's natural. But there was a time when Jesus was

Only a man?

2011-04-21T07:15:00.000-04:00

I have a new found appreciation for Paul and his writings every time I pick up one of his letters. Today is no different. This morning I only had to read a few short verses before I was stopped dead in my tracks by these words, For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? Wow! That's a pretty pointed statement. I know that

Ever Feel Dumb?

2011-04-19T07:58:00.000-04:00

Have you ever felt really dumb? I mean really dumb! It's the kind of feeling that makes you shake you head at yourself and wonder what you were thinking. I've had that feeling way too many times. Some say that's because I'm a guy. Others say that's my personality to do and then to think later, but I think often it has something to do with today's bible reading. This morning I only

Is Jesus really enough?

2011-04-18T06:53:00.000-04:00

I've got to be honest. Lately that question has been a bit hard to answer. Some days the answer is absolutely yes. Other days it's really hard to even see if Jesus is still there. But all the same I know the right answer. I'm sure most of us do. The answer is that God is all sufficient. That his power is made perfect in our weakness. That he is the creator and sustainer of all. That he

Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T06:17:00.000-05:00

Throughout this season of the church year known as Lent, I'll be posting devotions from an organization called Lutheran Hour Ministries. If for some reason I don't get the devotion uploaded, go to this site - http://www.lentendevotions.net/dailydevotions.asp. "Shining in the DarknessAsh Wednesday" By Rev. Wayne Palmer March 09, 2011 Read John 1:1-18.TEXT: "The light shines in the darkness,

Never grow weary!

2011-03-04T05:19:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just been too tired to even care anymore? Perhaps it's the fault of that person who just seemed to suck the life right out of you. Perhaps it's the multitude of needs present in our world and you just don't think that you can make any difference at all. Perhaps you're just tired. Whatever the reason, I think it's important that we hear these words from Galatians 6 - let us not

Snow Day!

2011-02-25T06:53:00.000-05:00

On this snowy Friday morning, I figured that I would take a small break from my normal routine of reading the book of Acts and do a little devotion on snow. It may seem a bit crazy to do a devotion on the light fluffy stuff but give me a minute and hopefully you understand where I'm coming from. For some of us we're probably fed up with the whole snow thing. That's often what happens when the

Even THEM?

2011-02-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been a part of a members only type of club? One of those elite organizations that only certain people are allowed to enter? Perhaps a gated community? Maybe a country club with membership restrictions? If you have then you can probably relate to a concern early in the days of the church in Acts 11. The idea of repentance leading to life was thought to be only for the "

Are you good enough?

2011-02-22T06:51:00.000-05:00

I've had the opportunity to have many conversations with many different people about being good enough for God. It's amazing that so many people in our world believe that we have to BE good and DO right to get in with God. But the truth of the matter is scripture is pretty clear on this issue. There are two verses that come to mind here - it's not what's on the outside that makes a man clean

Who is that man?

2011-02-17T07:02:00.000-05:00

He was a terrible man. Absolutely one of the most rotten individuals I've ever heard of. He was angry. He was jealous. He was violent. He was vindictive. He was just down right not nice! Who was this man? He was Saul, or better known to us today as Paul. You see this man was on his way to pick up some Christians one day and have them thrown into prison, beaten, and potentially even

Can you explain this?

2011-02-16T08:02:00.000-05:00

This morning I continued my journey through the book of Acts, taking just a chapter from that book at a time and really thinking about its implications for ministry today. Something interesting came out in my reading today that I'd like to share with you. In Acts 8:31, Luke records a piece of Philip's life. Perhaps you've heard of the story of the Ethiopian coming to a saving knowledge in

No boundaries

2011-02-14T06:26:00.000-05:00

This morning I had a chance to meet up with an old friend. He's the kind of friend that you can almost forget about for a while and then when you meet up again - it appears that you didn't miss a thing. I just listened this morning. I didn't try to give any input or import my agenda into his words - I just listened, and here's what I heard. After a considerable amount of time something that

Don't Hold Back

2011-02-11T05:58:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up with some tight muscles in my neck and shoulder because I worked out yesterday and potentially lifted too much. I have to be honest, my wife doesn't really like it when I hurt myself lifting weights. So her natural question for me this morning was, "did you stop when you realized you hurt yourself?" Well, I'm a guy so the answer to that question is NO. I just powered

Boldness

2011-02-09T07:10:00.000-05:00

I believe that one of my new favorite passages of the New Testament is found in Acts 4. Now for those of you who don't do much with the book of Acts, this book is all about the starting/launching of a movement of people who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Acts 4 tells the story of two high powered figures in this new movement named Peter and John. These men were on fire for

Just imagine...

2011-02-07T15:41:00.000-05:00

I was reading this morning from the book of Acts - has to be my favorite book of the bible - and I got to thinking...what would that look like? If you're not familiar with the book of acts then I'd definitely suggest taking a quick glance at it, but in the meantime here's a verse that always makes my imagination wander. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to

I wasn't that bad...

2011-01-27T09:59:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard those words? I wasn't that bad. Or perhaps the phrase, it's not that big of a deal. Maybe we've even used the excuse that it was just a little white lie. I love our attempts to justify ourselves. We try so hard to make ourselves look good. Don't we? I've been thinking a lot lately about the question, how good is good enough. Now that's a fairly rhetorical question in my

When God shows up...

2011-01-26T06:35:00.000-05:00

What do you do when God shows up? Ok so maybe he doesn't materialize in front of you in a locked room like he did his disciples. Or perhaps he won't snap the heavens wide open and call out your name in the loud booming voice that God seems to have in our imaginations. But I do believe that he still shows up. He shows up when big things happen, things that no man or woman on earth could ever

Jesus and Panera Bread Company

2011-01-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

I've been sitting in a local Panera Bread for about an hour now working on some sermon material. For the last twenty minutes I've been just observing my environment to see if I could find Jesus here at Panera. Well this is what I've come up with. Note: this devotion is much later than normal and for that I apologize. Secondly, it's not the typical format but I hope that you get something out

Because you don't have faith.

2011-01-20T06:31:00.000-05:00

Jesus can hit the issue pretty hard, and this morning was no different. There's a story in Matthew 17 that tells of a man coming to Jesus to have him cast out a demon in his son. Jesus does it with a simple word. Then the disciples asked why they couldn't do it. You see, the disciples had already tried to cast out this demon but were unsuccessful. Something went wrong to say the least.

What do you use keys for?

2011-01-19T07:10:00.000-05:00

This morning I just sat and listened as two men had a conversation. The first man asked what other people thought of him. He asked questions about his identity - who am I in your eyes? The second man spouted off some pretty important names that he had heard from other people. These were some high powered folks! I was impressed to say the least. Then the questions turned. Instead of

A worthwhile sacrifice

2011-01-05T06:32:00.000-05:00

So why is it that God liked Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's? It's simple - Abel gave his best. Many people have been hung up on this passage for quite some time. They wonder what Cain did to deserve the treatment that he received. Others are a bit curious if their "sacrifices" are more like Cain or Abel's. That's where I want to look today - what sacrifice is the right sacrifice? In

Life between the trees

2011-01-04T06:33:00.000-05:00

Today our devotions will take a different flare. A new year tends to bring new beginnings. We're going to start at the beginning, Genesis, and work our way through the bible chronologically. This morning brought me to the first few chapters of Genesis, and one thing jumped out at me - trees. It's kind of easy to overlook them, or at least to not give them much time or thought; but the trees

There's always something to be thankful for...

2010-11-19T06:56:00.000-05:00

It's been a few days since my last update on this blog and for that I apologize. It's been pretty hectic around here and I just haven't made the time to get this update done. So I've decided to do something a little different this morning... Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 It's

Do you overflow?

2010-11-16T06:37:00.000-05:00

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34 Right before and after this verse are accounts of how Jesus is getting lit up by the Pharisees. They're scared that he's gaining a following too fast. They want to stop him and quick. Jesus heals a man of his blind, mute condition - only to be met by their accusations and frustrations. They even plan to kill him because of

Don't be silent!

2010-11-15T06:31:00.000-05:00

For we cannot help speaking about what we have heard and seen. Acts 4:20 Peter and his crew were facing some pretty rough times. They had just healed a man in Jesus' name and were arrested for it. The scene was pretty hot! They were being told to say nothing about Jesus anymore. The leaders and rulers were afraid that these men were gathering too strong of a following. People were talking

Do you really believe it?

2010-11-11T07:58:00.000-05:00