Archive for the ‘God’s Word’ Category

31 Aug

Fish Tales

Posted by sandhillspastor in God's Word, Witness, Discipleship, Evangelism.

Dear friends,

This past Saturday the Lake Ericson annual fishing derby was held. There were a fair number of participants and the weather was favorable. This is a catch and release derby. A photo of the fish lying next to a yardstick was evidence of the angler’s catch and the fish was released back into the lake.

This brought to my mind the story of Jesus calling His disciples. He said He would make them fishers of men. “Come follow me, Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). This would not be catch-and-release. They were not out to catch the biggest fish. There would be no one too small or too large. No one too young or too old. They were to spread the Gospel, to tell everyone about Jesus Christ, the Savior.

Regardless of size or age, all who respond to the Gospel are keepers and Jesus keeps them forever. “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish” (Matthew 13:47).

When caught by the Savior, none are released. No photo or measuring device is required. The proof is in obedience to His word, and He will not throw any back for any reason. These are His words: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

As His disciples, we are to present the gospel in the context of a fishing lure or a net, and we show those who respond that Jesus accepts them only on the basis of faith, not on worthiness, as no one is worthy. Jesus provides our worth.

“As the Scripture says, “anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:11-13).

Gone fishin’,

Pastor Jerry

17 Aug

Know the Truth

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Faith, False teachers, God's Word, Spiritual Warfare, Truth.

Hello friends,

It has been an interesting week weatherwise. Since I last reported there have been some beneficial rains. No large amounts, but enough to stop the lawn watering for a while. The garden was spared from any major damage due to the hail last week. I fear we will be overrun with tomatoes soon, as they are loaded with green ones. Bacon and tomato sandwiches may be regular fare in the coming days.


It is my custom to write these missives Sunday afternoon, but I was distracted by other things, so here I sit at the keyboard past my bedtime.

As I read and observe what is taking place in churches around the country, I am seeing much discussion centering on “churches” that are spreading false teaching, and many well-meaning people are being taken in by those who are promoting these things. Scripture reminds us that these things have been going on since the beginning of the Church. We are also encouraged to be discerning in what we believe and to point out heretical teaching. If we are to be informed about these things, the very first action to take is to read the Bible for ourselves and not just take some person’s word for what it says.

The apostle Peter had much to say concerning those who misrepresent the Word of God. “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Peter 2:1-2).

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he also warns of these false teachers: “These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing” (1 Timothy 6:3-4).

Again, the words of Peter, “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:17).

For Truth,

Pastor Jerry

27 Jul

The Truth of the Gospel

Posted by sandhillspastor in Eternal Life, Faith, God's Word, Gospel, Salvation, Truth.

Hello all,

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (you do remember records?) the heat this weekend was almost too much. The outlook for the week ahead is a slight cooling. I doubt if a few degrees change will be all that noticeable. The garden is coming along nicely if we can keep it watered. I have been using soaker hoses this summer and they are working well. I’m anticipating some home-raised tomatoes soon.

Sunday as we gathered for worship, we learned that Pastor John was unable to be at church as planned. Our options were to go back home or enlist some volunteers to go ahead with church. One of our men took care of the announcements and the praise and prayer time. And one of the young ladies familiar with technology took care of the music. Yours truly volunteered to bring a message from the Bible. When I became a Christian, I was told to always be ready to preach, pray or die. Those words come back to me now and then.

Sometimes, when it comes time to sit down at the keyboard and compose a devotional thought, there is nothing there. So, this week I will share some of what I spoke about this morning.

It is from Romans chapters 9 and 10. Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome and sharing his burden for his people, the Jews. Paul was a Jew’s Jew, but after becoming a Christian, he was concerned with Israel’s salvation.

“But the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Romans 9:31-32). The stone, or rock Paul speaks of is the Lord Jesus. He was right there in front of them, but they did not recognize Him as the Messiah they were expecting.

Scripture plainly says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your heart that you believe and are justified” (Romans 10:9-10). You can never be good enough or do enough good deeds. You are saved by faith, not by works!

For Him,

Pastor Jerry

20 Jul

He Will Return

Posted by sandhillspastor in End Times, Eternity, Faith, God's Word, Gospel, Salvation.

Hello friends,

The weather this past week has been sunny and hot! As predicted, it was a good week to stay close to the AC and thank the Lord for it. I’m old enough to remember the days before air conditioning, and I would never want to go back there.

Some days, it seems there is no good news. With all the political rhetoric, unrest, conflict in the world, earthquakes and other disasters one wonders what next? However, as the old saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. This was written by Solomon centuries ago. Ecclesiastes 1:9 reads, “What has been done will be again; there is nothing new under the sun.” My late mother-in-law insisted that some of the things we are seeing today weren’t done in her day. Perhaps they weren’t front page news, but as Solomon said, “there is nothing new.”

The Bible tells us these things will be increasing as time goes on, and at some point, it will all come to an end with the return of the Lord Jesus. That time has not come, and only God knows when that will be, but it will happen, we have His word on it.

The apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly… The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3-9).

Many years ago, I heard a man say, “Someday the Lord will come back and straighten out this mess,” That day is closer than ever. If you do not know Him, now is the time to seek Him and accept His salvation. He will return, count on it.

In Truth,

Pastor Jerry

13 Jul

A Note From God

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Christian Living, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, God's Word.

Dear readers,

Our days can be described in one word. Hot! The forecast for the next week and beyond is for hot and dry conditions. This will be great for making hay and growing corn. As for me, I will spend most of my time in the presence of air conditioning.

Have you ever wished God would drop down a sticky note letting you know His plan for your life? Or maybe you would like to see it written in a fluffy cloud? Those plans and instructions on how to achieve them are already available for everyone. They can be found in His written word, the Bible.

The first thing He wants you to know is this: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (The words of Jesus in John 6:40).

Believing in Jesus is the first step. The second is understanding and confessing that you are a sinner. Third, you must repent or turn from sinful ways. You will not do this on your own, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved… For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10, 13).

Jesus promised his disciples they would not be alone. He said this as He prepared to return to heaven, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with your forever—the Spirit of truth”…But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:15-17a; 26).

Obedience to His commands is the proof of our salvation. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

In Him,

Pastor Jerry

22 Jun

Power Interrupted

Posted by sandhillspastor in Best Life, Blessings, Faith, God's Word, Humor, Trials, Trust.

Hello friends,

We were blessed with more rain Saturday night. My rain bucket registered almost three inches. There is a low spot on our property that catches the big rains. We have been just letting it soak away, but this time we brought out the sump pump I purchased when the crawl space under the house flooded a few years back. It appears this is going to be the answer to the excess water problem.

Along with the rain, when I woke up and looked for the clock, the red numbers weren’t there. The power had gone off around 4:30 AM and we were powerless, so to speak. Milrae has a CPAP machine while sleeping, and she woke up due to a lack of air. After some time waiting for the electricity to come back on, I decided to fire up the standby generator. This proved to be another adventure because we had stored it in the front of the garage behind some other things. I got it to the front door of the garage feeling pretty good about the situation, but wouldn’t you know, the battery on the generator was dead. I have a portable battery supply, but it didn’t work for some reason. After using jumper cables from the car battery, it started and as you might guess, soon the power came back on.

This reminds me of a truth that applies to the Christian life. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

It is impossible to live the Christian life if we don’t remain connected to our source of strength. That strength comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit who comes into our heart at the moment of salvation. When we are unplugged from the power source, we are unable to live the life we are called to live.

When our electric lines are broken, we walk in darkness until that power is restored. It is the same with our connection to Almighty God. Without it, we are walking in darkness, but as we connect to Him the light returns.

The psalmist wrote: “You are my strength; I watch for you; you God are my fortress” (Psalm 59:9).

In His grip,

Pastor Jerry

20 Apr

Look to the Lord

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, God's Word, Obedience, Trust, Truth.

Hello friends,

We had what we hope is the last frost last weekend. Maybe we can start to plan for flowers and other springtime blessings. I did have to mow the backyard last week. I’m not sure it didn’t grow all winter, as tall as it was.

In past articles I have mentioned the fact that Christians are in a spiritual battle as we live out the commands of the Savior. Pastor J.D. Greear in a recent article tells us that to fight spiritual warfare we need to be grounded in the gospel.

He writes, “Even Christians sometimes don’t want to acknowledge that Satan and demons are real, but Jesus most definitely believed in them. He (Jesus) gave his followers instructions on how to engage with them, though the instructions may not be quite what you would expect them to be.

“Jesus consistently directs people away from preoccupation with the demonic. He never tells us to go out demon hunting or approach the world like an exorcist. 

There’s really only one passage in which the Bible outlines for us what spiritual warfare is like. In Ephesians 6, Paul lists out the weapons of our warfare. They include the helmet of salvation, which means let the gospel shield our thinking; the shield of faith, which is when you believe God’s promises; the belt of truth, or the good news; and feet covered with a readiness to preach the Word of God.

All of those things can be summarized by faith in the gospel. Cover yourself with the gospel. Saturate yourself in the gospel. When you are grounded in the gospel, Satan can’t touch you. 

Paul gives three model prayers in Ephesians (1:15-23, 3:14-21, 6:18-19), and in none of them is he binding or casting out demons.

In 1 Corinthians 1, when Paul is addressing the division in the Corinthian church (which he said in Romans 16 could be demonic), he never tells them to rebuke the spirit of division. He tells them to be united in their minds and charitable to each other. 

If you want to fight the demonic in your life, don’t focus on the demons at all—just let Jesus be large in your life.”

Pastor John reminded us Sunday morning that to stay strong in our faith, we need to spend time in God’s Word daily. This is how we defeat the devil.

Stay strong,

Pastor Jerry

23 Mar

Facing Disaster

Posted by sandhillspastor in Assurance, Faith, God's Word, Hope, Trials, Trust.

Dear friends,

Our temperature went from the mid-nineties Saturday to the mid-fifties on Sunday.  This is after we called off church last week because of cold and snow. Could this be called whiplash?

What do you do when things seem impossible to overcome? I’m thinking of those who were impacted by the wildfires in Nebraska last week. Having spent my life in ranching, I can’t imagine the thought of facing a loss of this magnitude. We lost our cows to financial troubles many years ago, but we still had our feed, fences, machinery and home.

This was just a few years after I had trusted Jesus with my life, and I’ve always said I don’t know how I would have handled this without Him. People who make their living off the land are subject to weather events and challenges that others just don’t understand, but this is nothing new.

If you read the Bible for any length of time, you soon find this is a part of life. The good news is that God knows what you are going through, and although He may not take you out of the situation, He will see you through it.

The psalmist Asaph wrote this when he was discouraged, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:23-26).

Psalm 62 also became a source of encouragement to me in times of trouble. “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and salvation; He is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out  your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:5-8).

The Lord Jesus left His disciples with these words as he prepared to go to the cross. “I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Trusting Him,

Pastor Jerry

23 Feb

Defend the Truth

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Christian Living, Evangelism, False teachers, God's Word, Truth, Witness.

Dear friends,

This week we’ll go straight to the devotional thought.

In today’s world there is much anti-Christian talk, and very much false teaching from so-called progressive Christian leaders. It seems everywhere you turn, someone is preaching and teaching their own interpretation of what the Bible says.

If you are a committed believer, you must know what you believe and believe what you know. Heresy is disguised as a new “word from God”, when the scriptures speak God’s complete and true word. The Bible is not subject to some so-called prophet’s opinion of scripture.

It has been reported that larger numbers of people are attending church services. This may be true, but discipling those who come to faith is of great importance, otherwise we have church attenders, but who are not true believers. Again, know what you believe and believe what you know.

There are warnings in the Bible regarding those who spread false gospels.

1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

2 Peter 2:1-3 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.”

We are told today that the sins described in the Bible do not apply to the progressive line of thinking. Those who subscribe to every level of depravity find those who hold to the authority of God’s word as old-fashioned and out of step with the culture. From the LGBTQ revolution, same sex marriage, abortion and all other sins against the Creator, nothing is sacred anymore.

“Every word that [Jesus] spoke was historically true. Every word that He spoke was scientifically true. Every word that He spoke was ethically true. There were no loopholes in the moral conceptions and statements of Jesus Christ. His ethical vision was wholly correct, correct in the age in which He lived and correct in every age that has followed it.” (Billy Graham).

The time has come for Christians to speak out on these issues. We cannot remain silent, hoping they will go away. We must stand firmly on what He has revealed to us.

In Truth,

Pastor Jerry

9 Feb

God’s Presence

Posted by sandhillspastor in Assurance, Creation, Faith, God's Word, Holy Spirit, Hope, Trials, Trust.

Dear readers,

You have to love 55 degrees in February; just remember we still have March ahead of us. It’s not too late for some deep snow and cold to appear on the scene. The recent warming has slowed the ice fishing activity here at the lake. I wonder how many of those enjoying the sport are not aware of the springs that lurk at the bottom of Lake Ericson?

Many people are dealing with trials these days. Christians are not exempt from trials and tribulation, whether they be financial, emotional or relational there are always difficult times. Some will tell you if you accept the Lord’s salvation, your life will be wonderful. Don’t believe them. I have heard it said that when we are undergoing those trying times God is waiting on the other side. kGod is not waiting on the other side of your storm; He is in it with you. He doesn’t part the waters or build a bridge over them but takes your hand and leads you through. Even when we cannot see Him, we can trust that he will not let us battle the storm alone. He tells us in His word that he is always present with us.

Psalm 73:23: Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory… My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

John 14:16; Jesus speaking, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” Also this, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

Isaiah 43:2-3 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” 

In each of those passages of Scripture, we are promised that He is always with us, either as God, Jesus or Holy Spirit. We are never left alone as believers. Our God is an ever present reality in our lives.

Trusting in Him,

Pastor Jerry

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