Tag / Florida

by In Light Of The Cross

John 14; “So it May be With us”

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 

 14:11    Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 

 14:12    Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 

 

14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan’s sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may be with us. Christ’s humanity was united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character.  {Desire of Ages, p. 123}

by In Light Of The Cross

John 7; It’s a Conspiracy!

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and [yet] none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? 

 7:20       The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? 

Either the group talking to Jesus here, were ignorant of the conspiracy to kill Him or they were two-faced. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5 that we are not to be paranoid about conspiracies, but to cast all of our care upon Jesus. At the same time, Peter acknowledges that the devil is out to get us.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

 5:8         Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 

 5:9         Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 

In John 7 the multitude had mixed opinions about Jesus. However His conduct is what validated His words and works.

While people are telling Jesus that He is crazy for thinking someone wants to kill Him, the Pharisees send out a group of conspirators to get Him.

7:45        Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? 

 7:46       The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. 

The officers who were sent to take Jesus reported that never man spake like this man. But the reason of this was that never man lived like this man; for if he had not so lived, he could not so have spoken. His words bore with them a convincing power, because they came from a heart pure and holy, full of love and sympathy, beneficence and truth. There is eloquence beyond that of words, in the quiet, consistent life of a pure, true Christian. We shall have temptations as long as we are in this world, but instead of injuring us, they will only turn to our advantage, if resisted. The bounds are placed where Satan cannot pass. He may prepare the furnace, but instead of working injury, it will only consume the dross, and bring forth the gold of the character, purer than before the trial.  {Gospel Workers 1892 P, 244}

No reason to be paranoid about Satan’s conspiracies. Just keep living for Jesus!

by In Light Of The Cross

John 5; Don’t Sleep Through The First Ressurection

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 

 5:26       For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 

 5:27       And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 

 5:28       Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 

 5:29       And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 

In verses 28 and 29 Jesus refers to the two resurrections. The resurrection of the righteous at the beginning of the thousand years, and the resurrection of the lost who meet their doom at the end of the thousand years.

In verse 25 Jesus is obviously referring to the first resurrection. The resurrection of the righteous. When I study with people about what happens when you die, I like to conclude with this verse and an appeal. I share that we can get so use to listening and responding to the voice of God, that we will even hear His voice in the grave. Some though will be so used to ignoring His voice, that they will sleep right through the first resurrection. I appeal to them to spend their life listening and responding to the Word of God. Then they will be so tuned into His Word that one day, if they die, His voice will wake them from the grave.

by In Light Of The Cross

John 4; In The Spirit

I wrote this about seven years ago while living in the beautiful Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As I am making my current journey through the New Testament, when I came to John 4, I remembered something I had written about seven years ago, right before I moved to Florida. One of the things I love about writing, is taking a look back every now and then at how I thought years ago. In the article below I am writing about my attitude about moving to Florida. After being here now for seven years, I find it interesting that I seemed to have a self-fulfilling prophecy about making friends here. Glad everything happened even better than I ever dreamed. Below is my article, exactly how I wrote it seven years ago.

God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

With the possibility now, of me moving to Florida where I will be hundreds of miles from any of my friends, it has me thinking a lot lately about my friends and what their friendships mean to me. In light of this, I found something in the above verse that is very comforting to me. I am sure that you have friends that no matter how long you are apart form them, once you get together, your friendship resumes right where it left off as though you had never been apart. This may sound weird, but maybe in one dimension you never were apart! We have physical dimensions such as time and space, but have you ever thought that there is another dimension we can be in that is not bound by time or space? To me, that dimension is the Holy Spirit. I believe why many of our Christian friendships take up right where they left off even after long periods of no physical contact is because we have actually been together the whole time “in the Spirit!” Why do those friendships take up right where they left off as though no time has passed by? Because we are in the great “ I AM”. With God thee is no time. He is in one eternal now. He is not the “I WAS” or “ I WILL BE”, He is the I AM. Same with space, The Holy Spirit is everywhere. The Holy Spirit is with our Christian friends, so if we are in the Spirit and our friends are in the Spirit then we are together.

As a matter of fact, all the love we receive from our friends actually comes from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if I leave my friends in Texas and go to Florida and make new friends there, I am still receiving the exact same love I had in Texas. Love does not come form human beings. We can not generate love; all we can do is let the Holy Spirit’s love flow through us. Therefore, the love I receive from people half way across the world is the same exact love I receive from the people I live with right here. It all comes form God. So as long as you have God’s love you can’t miss a friends love, because the only love they gave you came from God and He is still with you!

I am so thankful for all my friends whom I can share God’s love with! Thank you for being a part of my life. I hope God has been able to love you through me as we worship Him in Spirit.

by In Light Of The Cross

Luke 6; Rock or Earth

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 
 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 
 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 
 6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. 

 This passage reminds us that, The Bible must change how we live our lives. Too often though we let the way we live our lives change how we interpret the Bible.

 

Often on my day off I go somewhere where I can spend some time alone with God. A while back I went to Siesta Beach in Sarasota . I waded into the water and as a wave rushed to shore it moved the sand right out from under my feet. The sand quickly shifted to conform to its surroundings. I realized that was what Jesus was talking about when He said to not build your house on the sand. Our theology and Christian walk should not be like the sand that conforms to our surroundings.

 

Jesus wants us our experience to be like the rock. Instead of the rock conforming to its environment, the environment conforms to the rock. Chitons are rock-clinging marine mollusks that are found on rocky coasts all over the world. These shells cling to the rock and conform themselves to the rock. Otherwise they get washed out to sea. In order to survive we must conform to the rock which is God’s Word.  In order to survive we must let the Bible change us and not our surroundings and environment.  We must let the Bible change how we look at the world and not let the world change how we look at the Bible.

by In Light Of The Cross

Sunset Over Naples

I am writing tonight from beautiful Naples.

Actually I am too tired to write alot right now, but wanted to share some pictures from my vacation spot here in Naples. My friend Ruth told me about a really neat beach off of Pine Ridge Road here in Naples. I was here last week and just had to come back. Please enjoy the pictures and videos. It is cold but still beautiful here. As a matter of fact this is suppose to be the coldest night in Florida 21 years. Earlier I said in recorded history but I was wrong!

 Starfish were all over the beach tonight.

Click here for a sunset video. If you liked that one click here for another one.

By the way I am selling 2011 calendars now with my pictures of the Tampa Bay area. 100% of the profits go to help struggling families this Christmas. The calendars are only $10.00. If you would like to order some please e-mail me at racerthree@yahoo.com Thank you!

by In Light Of The Cross

Matthew 9; Two Groups of Church People

I am writing today from the beautiful Florida Keys.

And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.  Matthew 9:2

 

Luke gives a little more detail; “And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was [present] to heal them.  And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought [means] to bring him in, and to lay [him] before him.  And when they could not find by what [way] they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with [his] couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.  Luke 5:18-20

 

Here we see the doctors of the law and Pharisees, the religious big shots sitting around with Jesus in a house. How important they must have felt to be able to debate theology with Jesus, or on the other hand, thought how important He must feel to be able to debate theology with them.  Meanwhile some people show up who have been bringing people to Jesus. Notice they could not get in because of the people blocking the way. Who was blocking the way? The big shots, who wanted to sit around and debate theology. Here we have to groups of people. One group is in the church, but blocking the way for others to come. Do we do the same today? Do we block people out who are not as old as us, rich as us, who just don’t think exactly like us? The second group were out bringing someone to Jesus. The man may not have even had faith, but when Jesus saw their faith He healed him. So this man, may not have been like the others who brought him to Jesus. The people bringing him to Jesus were not  bent on getting the man to think exactly like them, they were just bent on bringing him to Jesus! Also the people bringing him to Jesus were not about to let the so called religious big shots keep this man away from Jesus.

 

So which group are in? Are you sitting in church, maybe even next to Jesus, but to you the church is just an exclusive club? Or are you in the second group, where you are busy bringing people to Jesus?

 

Notice too, they were willing to tear the house apart to get him in to meet Jesus. How much do we read into that if anything at all? Of course our standards and doctrine cannot be altered. However, I sadly remember being a Bible Worker in a church long ago that was made up mostly of older people. A young couple joined our church, and I began Bible studies with their teenage cousin and a few of her friends.  Three of them got baptized with her! They did not stay long though. They  wanted to become active in the church and the older people became threatened by their presence. One older lady in the church actually told me, “William, don’t let these kids take over our church!” I was shocked! What made this lady think it was her church in the first place! I thought it was God’s church! Sadly these teenagers did not last long in the church. Sadly that church is still struggling to exist even today.  Isn’t it our calling to bring people to Jesus?

by In Light Of The Cross

My Favorite Christmas Songs on Video

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

I trust everyone had as wonderful a time with family and friends as I did this Thanksgiving. We are now in the midst of the Christmas season. Every holiday season brings its own unique memories.  I remember my first white Christmas in the 1980’s in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I am kind of strange because I have always loved the cold and dark. I remember as a teenager, my parents picking me up from my after school job and going out to eat at Furr’s cafeteria at the Farm Shopping center at 51st and Sheridan. It would be dark by 5:30 or so, and afterwards we would go shopping, and the shopping center, with its Christmas decorations and dark, cool, atmosphere gave me a calm, tranquil feeling.  I remember while living in Fort Worth, for a while I worked at UPS form 3 to 8 in the morning and had a daytime delivery job on top of my preaching and giving Bible studies.  One Christmas season, between both jobs I was working from 2am to 6:30 pm most days. Finally on my last day before going home for Christmas, I finished my last delivery and then ducked into a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant to grab a bite. This again may sound funny, but it was so nice to just relax after a few weeks of working 16 hours a day, and enjoy a meal by myself before driving home for Christmas. I just sat there and enjoyed my meal thinking about how happy I was to have friends and family during the holidays, and after 16 hour works days, some money to enjoy it all. I have no clue why that memory sticks out in my mind and brings me such warm fuzzies but it does. Those work days about killed me at the time, but now I look back with nothing but fond memories. I remember playing games with my nieces, watching football with my parents, and running all over the place with my sister and brother-in-law.

 

Now that I am in Florida I enjoy a different kind of holiday season. To be honest, I miss the cold weather this time of year. It still gets dark early, I still get to be with my family as each year makes new memories to be treasured forever.  The combination of Christmas lights on palm trees still takes a little getting used to.  Christmas music is always one of my favorite things about Christmas. Each song is associated with its own memory and time. I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas songs with you. Here they are on video. Just click on each song to enjoy!

 

10. Some Day at Christmas, by Stevie Wonder

 

 9. Do They know it’s Christmas, by Band Aid

 

8.  Mary Did You Know, by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd

 

7. Christmas Cannon, by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

When I was out working my 16 hour days in Texas during Christmas time this song was played a lot on my car radio. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra became a favorite of mine and I have been to two of their concerts.  I have all of their CDs I think.

 

6.  Oh Holy Night, by Evie Tornquist

Evie was one of my favorite singers back in the ‘70s when I first got into contemporary Christian music and this album was a favorite of mine.

 

5. So This is Christmas, by John Lennon

 

4. If I get Home on Christmas Day, by Elvis (Not to be confused with “I’ll be Home for Christmas”)

 In 1979 my family and I went to Brownsville, Texas for Christmas. We hit an ice storm on our way back home to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We averaged 13 MPH on our way home on the ice. We picked up a service man hitchhiking and took him from San Antonio to Austin. We played the Elvis Christmas tape in our car over and over and this song always reminds me of that Christmas.

 

3. Christmas in Dixie, by Alabama

 

2.  Sweet Little Jesus Boy, by Casting Crowns.

These words are so true.

 

1. Little Drummer Boy, by David Bowie and Bing Crosby  

 

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Season!

 

You May find studies and devotionals at In Light of The Cross.