The Word of the Lord is “Rise Up! “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14) In the valley of dry bones, they heard the Word of the Lord, and suddenly “there was a whole lot of shaking going on” as one by one the bones responded and came back together. The vision would end with a mighty army of God’s people who…Keep Reading

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over At an age when many men might have considered backing off and letting the younger generation do the fighting, Caleb, at age 85, was looking for mountains to climb and battles to win. He said: “So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified…Keep Reading

Compel Them to Come “And the lord said unto the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23. “Compel them to come…” Compel is a word that we seemed to have dropped it from the church vocabulary. I suppose that is because it implies dragging someone into the Kingdom while they are kicking and screaming. It…Keep Reading

Mugged By Money We usually fear being mugged for our money; few of us take precautions to prevent being mugged by our money. It is not the money itself that’s the problem. The problem lies in our desire for money and the things it buys. Agur wrote, “First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs!…Keep Reading

Relationships and Friendships Require us to Leave a Lot of Things Alone “Just Then, as he was presiding over the court, Pilate’s wife sent him this message: “Leave that good man alone…” Matthew 27:19 I was a boy on the hill above a farmhouse where folks were sitting on the front porch. I suddenly realized that I was sharing the path with a large black snake that had raised up…Keep Reading

Being Saved by the Power of God and His Grace “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthian 1:18 Society and politics never change very much. There is a story of a newspaper that had assigned a photographer to get a “hideous picture” of Theodore Roosevelt that would turn people…Keep Reading

Piling On In football, the phrase “piling on” is used to describe the action of one or more players jumping on top of a player or group of players after a tackle has been made. The guilty team receives a 15-yard penalty for the infraction. The Corinthians were guilty of piling on and were flagged by Paul. He had rebuked them for allowing sexual immorality in the body of Christ,…Keep Reading

Don’t Fret; Wait on the Lord When we read, hear, or experience firsthand the wickedness of the world, we often fret, feeling helpless. David wrote: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb” (Psalm 37:2-2). He repeats the same thought in verses 8-9: “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it…Keep Reading

Glimpses of Glory David speaks of those whose reward is in this life (Psa 17:14), and then says, “As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness” (v.15, NIV). The KJV says, “When I awake, with thy likeness.” What glory! But we can get glimpses of this glory both in ourselves and others if the Spirit…Keep Reading

Pastor Will Shewey, Shades of Grace United Methodist Church Link to YouTube Video – Luke Chapter 13:10-17 From Pastor Will Shewey Saturday morning worship has ended for another week. The choir sounded great and other special music was shared by Jeff and Quinn. Landon also shared a couple of songs. Constable Dwain was the Officer for today. He is celebrating a birthday this week. Mikie also told me that today…Keep Reading

If Failure Were Fatal, We Would All Be Dead God is the original recycler, for he has always worked in, through, and with sinners. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have anything with which to work. In listing some of the names on God’s “Honor Roll of Faith,” the writer of Hebrews says, “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb 11:16)—that’s Noah, Abraham and Moses, David, and some…Keep Reading

All Roads May Lead to Rome At the peak of Rome’s development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the empire’s 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 250,000 miles of roads, of which over 80,500 miles were stone-paved. The phrase “All roads lead to Rome” implies that one can reach their destination from multiple directions, traversing various paths….Keep Reading