Great Day!

It was wonderful. I sat in our auditorium and noted two in wheelchairs, white families, black families, hispanic families, bi-racial families, international families, foster parent families, and we all worshiped the same God and praised His name. I kept thinking of a song from my childhood:

Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

And He loves all of us old folks, too. Have a great day. JW

Repentance

I preached about repentance Sunday. Our definition for repentance has been flawed in my opinion. It's been the "turn or burn" mentality or the "I'm sorry" thoughts. But being sorry doesn't constitute repentance. And "turn or burn" has no love or grace involved. Sorrow can help to bring about repentance, but it's not repentance. "Godly sorrow brings forth repentance" the scripture says. But repentance is a combination of things. The Hebrew word is to sigh deeply. That indicates sorrow. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of heart. Which begs the next question. Is repentance an incident or event or is it a process? To repent is to see things through God's eyes. To see things differently than we have in the past. It's a change of heart. It's inward and it affects outward, not the other way around. When we decide to "change our minds" and to not see things in a worldy way, then we've repented. What do you think? Is repentance an incident or a process? Have a great day! JW

Forgive Our Foolish Ways

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

--John Greenleaf Whittier

Have a great day. JW

W.W.J.G.

Yesterday as the collection plate was passed, an interesting thought came to my mind. Many of us wear or have worn these bracelets that have W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do?). As the plate went by, I thought, "What Would Jesus Give?" Would he place a nail in the plate? Would it be His crown of thorns? Or would He place money in? You know He said to give to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God's. Maybe He'd just give Himself. That's what He did, didn't He. And when I thought of that, it made me realize how little I really give. It reminded me of a song we used to sing:

I gave my life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead;

I gave, I gave my life for thee:
What hast thou giv'n for me?

His life, my few bucks. What a contrast. What a sacrifice He made. How little sacrifice I make.

Sunday Morning

There's something about Sunday morning's. There's a rush of anticipation. There's a sense of relief. The Lord has risen. As the sun comes up, I place myself right there by the tomb over 2000 years ago and I can feel the joy that the tomb was empty.
Now, flash forward 2000 years and be with me standing in front of several hundred people who are sleep deprived, some sitting in their pews because that's where you are on Sunday mornings, and some are also excited. How do we get the excitment to spread? He is risen! It's what the day is all about. It's why we meet together on the first day of the week. It's why we take the Lord's supper. It's because we believe in Him. And we believe that He is coming again. Lord come quickly.