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Cousins & The Cornerstone.

November 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments

MaryEllen Montville

“When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?” The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.” –Matthew 12:40-43.

Scattered amongst a crowd, you’d be hard-pressed to distinguish one from the other. Stand them side by side; you’ll catch glimpses of familial similitudes. Vague, yet undeniably present. Inverse likenesses. Cousins, maybe? “When I look at you, I see my father’s eyes.” “And when I look at you, I see my father’s smile.”

Family. Often, its dynamics are complicated. Too often, families are fraught with some misgiving or another about a member or members that can quickly turn volatile when trying to unite divided factions—and when they do finally come together, they mostly disagree. It may be because one side incites the other by reminding them they’re the family favorites and that “your side” has only been invited because “well, family is family.”

Sounds harsh, right?

Even eerily familiar to some of you who’ve experienced firsthand the incisive sting of familial rejection?

And yet, there is sugar hidden within this severe, bitter truth. Sweet morsels of grace wrapped in inclusion, redemption, privilege, and forgiveness, making even this most sharp rejection palpable. Thus, at least, that’s the way it’s been between Jews and Christians for millennia. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” –Romans 1:16.

Yet soon and very soon, one family, invited by One Host, will sit at one table where there’ll be no favorites. “There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority].” –Galatians 3:28.

Meet the Cousins: The Jews and the Christians, and the Host: Cornerstone, Jesus.

Cousin One, the Jews: You’ve already met him—who he represents. Jesus was talking to them and their side of the family in today’s verses. They’re the ones Cornerstone first came to—He unveiled His plan and identity to them. They would be the first to receive an invitation to a future family gathering. But Cousin One had an issue with Cornerstone telling them and their side of the family that their blatant misuse of their God-given authority coupled with their disobedience and blindness would now result in the gift God had given them being handed over, for a time, to the other side of the family.

“Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [to spiritual things], you would have no sin [and would not be blamed for your unbelief]; but since you claim to have [spiritual] sight, [you have no excuse so] your sin and guilt remain.” John 9:41.

When the Apostle Paul explained to Cousin Two, the Christians, the reasons why Cornerstone had made this decision to remove, for a time, the gift He’d first given Cousin One, the Jews,  Paul explained Cornerstons decision using these very words: “So I say, have they stumbled so as to fall [to spiritual ruin]? Certainly not! But by their transgression [their rejection of the Messiah] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous [when they realize what they have forfeited]. Now if Israel’s transgression means riches for the world [at large] and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment and reinstatement be!” –Romans 11:11-12.

Cousin Two, to whom it’d been made clear that they’d only been invited to the family gathering because, “as family,” they had to be, now understood the whole Truth about why they’d been invited. They now understood that the invitation extended to them had a two-fold purpose uniquely their own. Using Olive trees as a metaphor, more specifically, the grafting of branches into the primary root system feeding the Olive tree, Paul makes clear to Cousin Two, the Christians, not to think more highly of themselves than they ought, that in fact, what Cousin One had been telling them all along, biting as it was, was the Truth.

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.” –Romans 11:17-20.

Nevertheless, said Truth did not negate the weight of the ultralaborious responsibility momentarily placed on the newly grafted in shoulders of Cousin Two; yet as He had with Cousin One, the Jews, Cornerstone would give Cousin Two the same Helper who would enable them to fulfill this ultralaborious—impossible without God’s help, task. One Cornerstone—One Helper. “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” –Acts 1:8.

A rife in this family had occurred—a family divided by unbelief and pride. Yet Cornerstone was—is, immovable in His desire—plan, really, for His family to be One.

He’d extended an invitation to both sides, wanting both to celebrate as one, and He would not, will not, allow His invitation to be thwarted by division.

Cornerstone had a plan and it was good—is good.

It brings into crystalline focus what He’s always had planned for His family—everyone in His family—Jew and Gentile alike. “This Jesus is the stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” –Acts 4:11-12.

Whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, the Chief Cornerstone, Jesus, has made His plan known today; He wants you to join Him. He gave His life for you so you could join Him, know Him, and accept His invitation to be part of the family gathering that will take place soon and very soon. Mindblowing, right? That The God who flung the stars in the sky and knows them by name, who created whole galaxies—and you—would even give you a choice. That’s Love! Your only response to such love? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” –Matthew 3:2.

“You have been saved by God’s love and kindness because you believed. It was not because of anything you did, but it was a gift from God. You were not saved by trying to do what the law says. So no one can be proud about it. God has made us. In Jesus Christ God made us so that we can do good things. He planned that we should live that way.” –Ephesians 2:8-10.

A New Order.

October 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

MaryEllen Montville

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.” –Hebrews 10:1.

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. –C.S. Lewis.

The prophets foretold of His coming—this King like no other— a foreshadowing. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” –Micah 5:2.

Year after year, the people had brought their lambs, rams, and doves, each one’s throat formulaically slit by the high priest. He spilled its lifeblood to atone for their sins. According to what God had told Moses, blood would always be required for the remission of sin. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” —Leviticus 17:11.

“Rid me of my sin! “Accept this animal’s blood as my atonement!”

It worked—for a time. But only for a time.

New blood would need to be spilled next year and the next.

The spilling of innocent blood was a stopgap only. A foreshadowing, pointing straight to the One spoken of by the Prophets of old—evident to those whose eyes would be opened—yet missed by those who, despite the myriads of detailed pieces of evidence painstakingly laid out for them by the Prophet Isaiah alone, refused to see entirely. “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” –Hebrews 9:7-10.

Read for yourselves just a few sentences of Isaiah’s words concerning the One foretold of. He who would come to do what no amount of blood shed from even a herd of animals ever could. “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” –Isaiah 53:2-3.

Friends, it was God Himself who stepped down from heaven.

God took on flesh: helpless, dependent, human flesh, all that He might fully experience our weaknesses, helplessness, and dependence firsthand, in all its forms and fashions—yet even in His taking on our flesh, He sinned not. This sin-less Jesus would die in your place and mine—we who were born in sin—so that we might “get to” experience His eternal life within us. Should we accept His offer of salvation, that is. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” –Hebrews 4:15.

This unfathomable, Divine exchange—Jesus’ innocence swallowing up our guilt. Father God willingly offered up His only Begotten Son, who then freely laid down His Life so that we might gain eternal life. “Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.” –Galatians 1:4-5.

His Revelation declares He is named Faithful and True.

He’ll come again wearing a robe dipped in blood, and His title is the Word of God.

This King’s name? Jesus, Son of God—our Savior. King of kings and Lord of lords. “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.” –Revelation 19:11-13.

He alone, the Perfect atoning sacrifice. His Spotless Blood alone is able to wash the filthiest of sinners white as snow. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” –Isaiah 1:18.

“But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings  you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –Hebrews 10: 3-10.

This same Jesus foreshadowed in the Old Testament, spoken of there as self-existent, eternal—having no beginning nor end, is confirmed to be God in the flesh in the New Testament by the Apostle John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 1 John 1:1.

Soon and very soon, this same Jesus will come again.

Jesus, speaking through the Apostle John, assures of this.

Jesus came to John when he was exiled on the isle of Patmos and revealed to him all of what was yet to come in such startling detail that if you’ve read news headlines this week, you’d swear the Apostle John got his information from that same news source. In Truth, He did.

Jesus, Omniscient God He is, shared with John all that is to come.

By default, that would mean this one statement made by Jesus must be Truth as well: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” –John 14:1-6.

Jesus is coming back; that is a fact, believe it or not.

But here’s the thing: that “place” Jesus has gone to prepare is for those who believe in Him, those He knows intimately, those He calls friends. Those who have a relationship with Him. Is that you, friend? If not, it can be

Jesus certainly wants it to be.

Jesus gave His life solely for you to ensure that it might be. “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” –John 3:16.

You need only ask Him into your life as Lord. His Holy Spirit will take care of the rest of what needs to happen. Please, don’t allow men to complicate what Jesus made so simple; even a child can receive Him. “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 mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” –Romans 10:9-10.

Unwavering Faith: Trusting God’s Perfect Timing.

October 5, 2024 /

One of the greatest challenges in our spiritual journey is learning to trust God’s timing. We live in a world that celebrates speed. From instant communication to same-day deliveries, we’ve been conditioned to expect immediate results. Waiting has become something we dread, whether it’s waiting in line at a store or waiting for God to answer our prayers. But here’s the truth: God’s timing is never late. It’s always perfect—and that’s what we need to learn and hold on to as we walk by faith.

Today, let’s explore what it means to trust in God’s timing. How can we grow in patience, surrender, and strengthen our faith when it feels like nothing is moving? And what can we learn from the Bible about how God uses time to shape us and reveal His plans?

1. God’s Timing Is Not Our Timing

In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us plainly: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

God operates on a completely different level than we do.

We often live day-to-day, focused on immediate circumstances, but God sees the complete picture—from the beginning of time to eternity. While we might experience frustration in our current season, God knows exactly what needs to happen and when it needs to happen. What may seem like a delay to us is often God working behind the scenes, orchestrating something greater than we could ever imagine.

Think about the life of Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-3, God called Abraham (then Abram) to leave his home and go to a land He would show him. “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. But here’s the catch: Abraham was already 75 years old. Can you imagine how impossible that must have seemed? Yet, Abraham obeyed and trusted God. As the years passed and no child was born, Abraham’s faith wavered at times, but he continued to believe in God’s promise.

In Genesis 15, Abraham is now in his mid-80s, still without a child. He asks God, “What can you give me since I remain childless?” God reaffirms His promise to Abraham, telling him that his offspring will come from his own body and that his descendants will be as countless as the stars in the sky. Despite the delay, Abraham believed, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Here’s a question: What promises are you holding onto today that seem impossible?

Are you waiting for healing, a financial breakthrough, a restored relationship, or the fulfillment of a dream God placed in your heart? Like Abraham, you might be tempted to doubt. You might wonder if God has forgotten. But just as God was faithful to Abraham, He will be faithful to you. His timing may not be yours, but His promises are sure.

2. Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands

Sometimes, when God’s timing doesn’t match our own, we’re tempted to take matters into our own hands. We think we can speed things up or force outcomes, but this usually leads to more problems than solutions.

In Genesis 16, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, grows tired of waiting. She’s now well past childbearing age, and the promise of a child seems more distant than ever. So, she decides to take control of the situation. She tells Abraham to have a child with her maidservant, Hagar. Abraham agrees, and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. But this wasn’t part of God’s plan. Ishmael’s birth leads to conflict and tension within the family, and it creates a situation that still impacts the world today.

How many times have we acted out of impatience, thinking we knew better than God?

Maybe we’ve rushed into decisions because we felt like God wasn’t moving fast enough. Perhaps we’ve taken shortcuts in our careers, relationships, or personal lives because we were tired of waiting.

Taking control when we should trust God can lead to regret, unnecessary pain, and lasting consequences. Just as Sarah and Abraham’s impatience led to complications, we, too, experience consequences when we step outside of God’s will.

This is not to say we should sit passively, but there’s a difference between proactive obedience and forcing outcomes God hasn’t ordained.

God is not asking us to figure everything out on our own. He’s asking us to trust Him in the process. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

3. God’s Timing Requires Patience and Faith

Patience is not passive waiting—it’s active trust in God’s faithfulness. In Romans 8:24-25, Paul tells us: “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Waiting on God requires a posture of faith and trust, even when we don’t understand why things aren’t happening on our timeline. Patience isn’t easy, especially when facing difficult situations or seeing others around us receive the answers we’ve been praying for. But faith teaches us to trust God, knowing His timing is perfect.

In fact, patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” –Galatians 5:22-23.

It’s a characteristic that God develops in us as we grow in maturity. Patience is not something we can manufacture on our own; it comes from a deep place of trust in God’s goodness. The more we learn to rely on Him, the more we can wait with hope and expectation.

James 1:2-4 encourages us to “consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

God uses seasons of waiting to refine us, to develop our character, and to draw us closer to Him.

The delays we experience are not wasted time; they are growth opportunities. We may not see what God is doing behind the scenes, but we can trust that He is working all things for our good. We need to remind ourselves of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

4. God’s Timing Brings Glory to His Name

Another key aspect of trusting God’s timing is recognizing that He often uses delays to set the stage for a greater demonstration of His power and glory.

Look at the story of Lazarus in John 11. Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, falls gravely ill. His sisters, Mary, and Martha, send word to Jesus, expecting Him to come immediately to heal their brother. But what does Jesus do? He waits. By the time He arrives, Lazarus has already been dead for four days. Mary and Martha are heartbroken, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” –John 11:21.

What they didn’t realize was that Jesus had a greater miracle in store.

 Instead of simply healing Lazarus, Jesus calls him out of the tomb, raising him from the dead. This miracle was far more significant than a simple healing—it displayed Jesus’ power over life and death. Sometimes, God delays things because He is preparing to do something far greater than we could imagine. His timing not only fulfills His promises but also reveals His glory. What may seem like a setback is often a setup for a greater miracle that will point others to the power of God.

When God comes through in ways that defy human logic, it’s a testimony to His greatness.

It shows that His ways are higher than ours and that His power is limitless.

5. Surrendering to God’s Perfect Timing

Finally, trusting God’s timing requires surrender. Proverbs 19:21 tells us, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” We often have our own timelines and expectations, but we must recognize that God’s plan is always better.

Surrendering doesn’t mean giving up on what we’re believing for—it means trusting that God knows best and that He is in control. It means letting go of our need to control every detail and allowing God to lead the way.

We can have control, or we can have peace, but we can’t have both.

Peace comes when we relinquish control to our Sovereign God. As we surrender our desires, plans, and timelines to God, we can experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Surrendering to God’s timing frees us from anxiety. It allows us to live in the present, trusting that God is working for our good.

We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.

Conclusion: Trust, Wait, Surrender

So, where does this leave us? It leaves us in a place of trust, waiting, and surrender.

We trust that God’s timing is perfect, even when it doesn’t make sense to us. We wait with patience and faith, knowing that He is working all things for our good.

We surrender our plans and our need for control.

When we align our hearts with His will, we find strength and courage, as Isaiah 40:31 reminds us: “But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

How the Poor Man Became Rich and Mourned No More.

September 21, 2024 /

Matthew Botelho

“The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted.” –Matthew 5:3-4.

If we are saved, we have a testimony of where we were when we met Jesus. That very place of despair, trapped. We were feeling like we were in a cage. Pacing back and forth, unable to set ourselves free. Our very souls were crying out, “Is there any hope for my suffering, my lust, my addiction!”

Think about this for a moment: The moment you said, “My suffering” or “My addiction,” you claimed something that is no longer your portion in this life. Because when you became Christ’s own, you were born again, washed clean of the sins that once held you captive and led you into states of depression and self-loathing. “Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it’s fruit.” –Proverbs 18:21

Everything changed when we received revelation, and the Light of Christ pierced our hearts. Only then could we truly see.

Many of us did not see or understand what we were speaking over ourselves before we accepted Jesus because we were blind, walking in darkness. “There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.” –Luke 12:2-3

Friends, we will not see the Kingdom of God as long as we stay in our sins. “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Do not be deceived; No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s Kingdom.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Reading the above scripture made me wonder how anyone can live a “carefree life.”

Have you ever heard someone say, “Oh, they are such a free spirit?” But they’re not really a free spirit if that freedom will cost them their soul. If any of the sins listed above are present in their “carefree” lifestyle, then I assure you they’re not living so carefree. Jesus is the only one who can bring life, not some “carefree” counterfeit spirit. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”- John 14:6

The person’s life may look good from the outside, but looks are deceiving.

Such people are living a lie—just as we all once did before Christ. We all tried to fill a space within ourselves that made us feel good. That eased our pain or loneliness. But it was just a placebo. Something that made us think we felt better, at least for a while. The truth is, we were still sick.

In my last teaching, “Cleansing A Leprous Heart,” I said sin was a sickness. And I likened sin to leprosy. Sin is a spiritual sickness that starts on the inside and works its way out. “Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”– Matthew 15:10-11

Though only God knows a man’s heart, you can see how a person thinks, what they live by, and their morals and beliefs by observing their life. Be still and listen to them talk. You will know them by their words and how they speak to others. Watch their walk. Scripture says: “You will know them by their fruits…” –Matthew 7:16.

We all carried the sickness of unrepentant sin with us at one point.

Jesus is the great physician who cured our sickness by separating our sins from us as far as the East is from the West, never to remember it again. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” –Psalm 103:12.

Listen to how Jesus explained why He’d come to the Pharisees. “When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was sitting with sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, He told them, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” – Mark 2:16-17

Jesus used the word “righteous” to make evident to the Scribes that their “righteousness” came only by knowing the law and then pointing out what other people cannot or should not do. The Scribes couldn’t see that these people were lost in their sins with no one to help them. They couldn’t understand that these people were the very reason Jesus came.

My friends, don’t fall into a place where you claim yourself to be so righteous you won’t help out a brother or sister when they are having a tough time, afraid you’ll dirty yourself. Instead, remember Who showed you mercy and love when you were at your lowest. Lest we forget what the apostle Paul wrote: “Carry one anothers burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” – Galatians 6:2-3

Jesus told the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.” –Matthew 23:23.

Jesus came for sinners. The “Whosoever’s.”  “And then, whoever calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.” –Acts 2:21. He dined with them that night because He was about His Father’s business, to meet the poor in spirit and to show them the way into the Kingdom of heaven.

Friends, we no longer need to mourn our sins, but we can rejoice because Christ Jesus’ has clothed us in His Righteousness. He has comforted us in our time of need. “And when you were dead in trespasses and in uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespass. He erased the certificate of debt, with it’s obligations that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.” –Colossians 2:13-14

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

 We were once poor in spirit, but God made us rich. We were prisoners of our sins, but God set us free. We mourned in our trespasses, but God filled our hearts with joy. Jesus died so that you and I will live for all eternity and be coheirs in the Kingdom of God. Jesus loves you so much.

We at the SonsoftheSea ministry are continually praying for every one of you. I invite all who feel the stirring of the Holy Spirit to open their heart and come to Jesus in complete repentance. Repent and accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” – Romans 10:9-10.

I pray you receive Him and His gift of salvation that cost Jesus His life. Be washed by His precious Blood, and your every sin will be washed away in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

New Season.

July 27, 2024 /

Pastor Maria Braga

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” –1 Cor 13:11.

Scripture is so current! It was not only for the past but also the present and the future. I have grown and become an adult woman in an adult body, and I continue to grow and mature. I have matured in many areas of my life and am still maturing in other places, especially my spiritual life. I pray that God never stops chasing me in every area, but especially the areas of immaturity where I need to become wise and discerning in life. This Scripture is life to me – it not only reminds me but also causes an urgency in me to continue transitioning and growing from the person I was yesterday into the new person I’m becoming in Christ Jesus.

Often, we think challenges come to break us! However, God sends these very challenges our way to grow us. In our limited minds, we can’t comprehend God’s plan for us, but He tells us of His plan in Scripture. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jer. 29:11.

When we capture this concept, we mature and understand that to grow spiritually, we must experience growing pains. God allows us to go through some valleys to shape and mold us to fit His plan for our lives. God uses all we go through to grow and develop us while preparing us for things much greater than ourselves. The situations He allows us to go through are the foundations for our breakthroughs and our ability to experience something new. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” –Isaiah 43:19.

Some seasons in life involve cutting people and situations away. We must delete conversations, phone numbers, and contacts, remove negativity, and bury stories and memories that will hurt us in our new season.

Even some good things from the old Season don’t fit in with the new.

All you need is to heal and grow in the confidence that those past things, as good as they once were, will now be thorns used to poke you in this new season. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” –2 Corinthians 3:18.

 Don’t expect everyone to applaud the new in you.

Acquire the faith and trust you need to move on regardless. “No, dear brothers, and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” –Philippians 3:13-14.

It is complicated for humans to understand that God’s timing is not ours.

His timing is perfect for every situation. All things happen the way they do for a reason. Life looks like a mountain at times, a mountain of stuff accumulated over the years that becomes clutter and blurs our vision of the next season of life. We must check in daily and ready ourselves for whatever comes by wearing the whole armor of God. It will protect us from any unexpected fiery arrows directed at us.

The Kingdom of God is an ever-increasing, always forward-moving Kingdom.

An organism that moves constantly in the direction of the King of kings and Lord of Lords; God longs to lead us into maturity; His heart longs to take us deeper into our knowledge and understanding of His love.

We look to Jesus’ victory for endurance, and we embrace His joy as our strength. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” –Hebrews 12:2.

You can choose to step through your next door, full of fear, doubt, and low expectations. But you will only experience the fullness of the new season God intends for you if you step into it with faith and great expectation.

I thank you, Lord, for this great salvation. For Your grace, we get to experience the joy that comes with it. Please fill me up with your Spirit and heal me today. Please help me continue to grow and become more and more like you as I journey through this life. Fill my heart and bless me. And I also pray for those who have yet to ask you into their lives as Lord Savior. May they do it today. In Jesus’ name. Amen. “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” –Romans 10: 9-10.

Me, Lord?

July 13, 2024 /

MaryEllen Montville

“Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.” –Ruth 2:8;10.



Like many redemption stories, Ruth’s started long before Boaz, her earthly kinsman redeemer, took notice of her gleaning grain in his field. Long before, he would waste no time hastening before the town elders and leaders to state his intentions concerning her. “Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife.” –Ruth 4:9-10.

As with all those Jesus calls His own, somewhere in the eternal past, a conversation occurred between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit concerning us; in this instance, Their discussion centered around Ruth and Their plan for her life. As with our own, Ruth’s story began so far back that as God recounted it, the earth was yet formless and void. “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” –Ephesians 1:4-5.

Ruth, a Moabite, married Mahlon, a Judean immigrant from Bethlehem. Son of Elimelech and Naomi, Mahlon had accompanied his parents and brother to Moab due to a famine that had struck their land. Thus, Mahlon somehow lands in Ruth’s proverbial backyard and ever the story goes. Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl, yet after ten years of marriage, Ruth is not only left childless but a widow when Mahlon dies suddenly. Nonetheless, El Roi, the God of her husband’s people, saw Ruth’s plight. “The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.” –Psalm 146:9.

Ever watchful, El Roi, the God who saw Ruth, sees us. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” –Hebrews 13:8.

So even when we, the vulnerable and dispossessed, the seemingly unseen, unprotected, the foreigner, feel as Ruth did, wholly unworthy of receiving such unfathomable kindness and such incomprehensible love. Contrary to those feelings and far more than any man’s kindness toward us, God is far more willing, kinder, and more gracious than the best of us deserve. “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” –Isaiah 30:18.

“When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.” Ruth 1:6. But somewhere en route to Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” Naomi has second thoughts. She tells Ruth and her sister-in-law Orpha to head back to Moab, their families, their gods, and, hopefully, to future husbands.

After some tears and a long goodbye, Orpha concedes and heads back to Moab, but not Ruth.

Right there on a dusty road that will lead both women to a future they could not have imagined, Ruth upends her heart, spilling its contents at her mother-in-law’s feet. “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” –Ruth 1:16-17.

Only at the feet of Jesus, as Mary, Lazarus’ sister, cries tears born of eternal devotion and an inexpressible love while pouring spikenard over Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair, do we see a more moving example of such humble, pure and heartfelt devotion. But that’s a teaching for another day. Ruth’s humility, tender devotion to her mother-in-law, readiness, confidence, and courage to leave her family—and the only life she’s ever known; her emboldened plea and willingness to follow Naomi, come what may, were gifts from God.

Unrecognized at the moment, each trait was some piece of the whole she would need to walk out God’s plan for her life faithfully.

A destiny unfolding undecipherably before her as she walked beside Naomi on that dusty, one-way road that led to redemption. “So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” –Ruth 4:13-17.

And if we follow David’s genealogy, it leads us straight to our Eternal Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus: “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” Then, after skipping multiple generations, David’s natural lineage ends with “and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.”

Ruth could not have known where her obedient, submissive heart would lead her.

We know Ruth was overwhelmed with gratitude by the human kindness shown to her by Boaz; the scriptures make that clear. But what we can only imagine is how full of gratitude, how much more humbled and thunderstruck Ruth may have felt had she known standing on that dusty road that her one decision to leave a familiar world behind her to follow Naomi would one day lead to her having played some small part in ensuring her spiritual Redeemer and ours; Jesus,  Savior of the whole world, is born.

So, what does Jesus’ being born mean for you specifically?  

It means if, like Ruth, you are willing to humble yourself and follow after the One True God who has led you not to some dusty road but here, instead, you might meet and, like her, walk away following not some earthy redeemer who can offer you only temporary rewards, but your eternal, Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ who offers you His Life.

Won’t you welcome His Life into your yours? Are you willing to leave behind this world’s old, familiar things and follow God more wholeheartedly, passionately, and tenderheartedly than even Ruth once followed Naomi? “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” –Psalm 32:8.

As scripture says, being born again must occur for you to have a relationship with God. A relationship Christ gave up all to have with you. “Me, Lord?” “Yes, you child.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” –John 3:3.

Clean Your Lenses.

July 6, 2024 /

MaryEllen Montville

“And he looked up and said, “I see people, but [they look] like trees, walking around.” 25 Then again Jesus laid His hands on his eyes; and the man stared intently and [his sight] was [completely] restored, and he began to see everything clearly.” –Mark 8: 24-25.

Have you ever felt like this blind man, perplexed by God’s actions or lack thereof, disoriented, unclear, questioning, even? Not questioning God, precisely—instead,  asking why something you’re positive God’s given you just doesn’t seem to be shaping up into all you thought or hoped it would be. You’re operating in it, walking by faith, using every drop of this God-given gift, and yet, there’s this inescapable thing in your belly telling you there’s so much more available to you. “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”

Maybe, like the blind man in today’s Scripture, that incomplete feeling concerns your healing or that of a loved one—that ailment, insecurity, or spiritual affliction, that addiction you’ve been praying God would remove altogether, deliver you or them from. But still, it lingers—it’s 50% gone, just not 100%.

Friends, I’ve come to remind you that God’s plan is always perfect and complete—even when we perceive it to be otherwise. God’s Word promises He is faithful in finishing what He has started in us. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” –Philippians 1:6.

It is we who must remember we operate on God’s time. He doesn’t operate on ours.

In studying today’s verses, various commentators and theologians weighed in as to why, based on Scripture, this man did not straightaway receive his sight. After all, throughout the Gospels, Jesus’ other healings were immediate—except for this lone, unnamed blind man.

Why did he require a second touch? Jesus undoubtedly intended to restore his sight fully, lest he continue to see men who “look like trees walking around.”

Those of us who know Jesus as Lord believe God is unchanging. That with only one touch from Him, this man’s sight could have been restored immediately. In fact, Scripture teaches Jesus didn’t even need to be in the same room with the one He was healing. He need only speak a Word and the person was healed. “When he (Jesus) was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.” –Luke 7:6-7;10.

But in this instance, offering us only brief glimpses of clarity, the encounter between Jesus and this unnamed blind man is shrouded and unclear, much like this blind man’s first glimpse of the world.

But was it his first glimpse of things?

I ask this to point us toward the oft-overlooked obvious.

Our blind friend instantly recognized and knew the difference between a person and a tree.

Scripture doesn’t come right out and say it; rather, it eludes to the obvious: our unnamed blind man was not born blind.

So why the double touch from Jesus?

Why didn’t this blind man’s miracle result in instantaneous healing? After all, every other healing Jesus performed did.

What is Jesus trying to teach us? Get us to see?

This is where, within the context of this seemingly brief encounter and, much like the coming together of our blind man and Jesus, the details of why Jesus chose to heal this man in the location and manner He did is shrouded in the unspoken and seemingly unfinished.

One potential answer backed by Scripture that some commentators offer up is:

  1. Jesus chose to perform this miracle for the benefit of His disciples—for us.

In Mark 8, Jesus had just fed the masses—some four thousand men, besides women and children, with a few pieces of bread and a few fish. After this, Jesus and His disciples get into a boat and head to Dalmanutha, where they go ashore only for Jesus to encounter the Pharisees, who immediately demand He show them a sign from heaven.

He assures them He will by no means perform such a sign. He returns to the boat with His disciples and heads toward Bethsaida, where a conversation between the disciples almost immediately catches Jesus’ attention. The topic? Lack of provisions—the disciples had only brought a single left-over loaf of bread. After watching Jesus take a few loaves and as many fish and feed some 10,000 men, women, and children, His disciples saw only their lack of bread! Like the blind man, they, too, saw only in part. While unbeknownst to them, it appears Jesus had been ruminating on the Pharisee’s demand for a sign from heaven because, seemingly randomly, Jesus warns them to “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

Why? Because at this point in their relationship with Jesus, His disciples still saw Jesus much as our blind friend’s first glimpse of the world—kind of, in part, “like trees walking around.”

 They believed, yet did not fully possess a clear understanding of Jesus. That would come later. “Jesus, aware of this [discussion], said to them, “Why are you discussing [the fact] that you have no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Though you have eyes, do you not see? And though you have ears, do you not hear and listen [to what I have said]? And do you not remember,  when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They answered, “Twelve.” “And [when I broke] the seven [loaves] for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they answered, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you still not understand?”—Mark 8:17-21.

Bewildered and thinking only in the natural, the disciples immediately do what so many of us do: lean on their own understanding. And as a result, they miss entirely the more significant spiritual implications our Lord is trying to get them to see.

The deeper Truth Jesus wanted them—and us, to see clearly. The dangers of unbelief. How just a little can blind us to the whole Truth. In time—God’s time, each man would see clearly. So clearly, whether by martyrdom or natural causes, each would give his life for Jesus: “We [who were with Him in person] have seen and testify [as eye-witnesses] that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” –1 John 4:14.

So be encouraged, brothers and sisters, if what you thought would happen has yet to happen, God is not finished with you. Clean your lenses by asking God to touch you—again. Trust His timing and plan for your life until all is clear and you are at peace with who God is—Lord of all.

Friend, if you want to see Jesus clearly, your first step is to ask Him into your life as Lord and Savior. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and give you eyes to see so much more than what surrounds you in the natural. None of us deserves to be forgiven of our sins; such forgiveness is a free gift from a loving and mercy-full God. “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” –Titus 3:5.

Believe and Be Confident.

April 27, 2024 /

Elda Othello-Wrightington.

Have you ever felt like you were a little fish in a big pond? Sometimes, life can feel that way, especially if you have lived life in a small pond. Truth be told, in order for a small fish to become a big fish, its environment has to change. Change is hard but possible. But what if, due to circumstances, the environment cannot be changed? Well, then, one’s mindset must change. What do I mean? One must work through all their thoughts and feelings of unbelief.

Unbelief has a way of crippling one’s dream and what God might be calling you to do.

When fear sets in, questions start to arise. Can I really do this? Soon, that God-sized dream becomes a man-sized what could have been. Too often, many God-given dreams, visions, and plans end up in the cemetery because they were never walked out by faith. Fear and a lot of second-guessing brought on their early death.

Recently, I realized that had happened to me.

I have been going through a lot of transitions (maybe some midlife—joking!), and it occurred to me that I believed God could do God-sized things for everyone except me. This untruth was allowed to live in my imagination because I allowed fear, doubt, and unbelief to settle in.

You might be reading this and saying to yourself, “That’s me!” Or “But you don’t know what I’ve been through. I prayed, and God didn’t answer.” Or “I’ve been waiting, and it didn’t happen at all the way I expected or anticipated it would.”

Welp! That kind of talk and thinking is unbelief.

I want to share with you the question Holy Spirit asked me. “You say you trust God, but do you really believe God can do it for you?”

Many of you may know the Bible story of the man who brought his son to the disciples to be healed, but the disciples couldn’t heal him (Mark 9 1-29). Interestingly, Jesus identifies them as “you unbelieving generation.” Wow! What a statement. The disciples and even the boy’s father struggled and wondered why this boy couldn’t receive his healing. The father’s statement is a very thought-provoking one. He exclaims, “I believe but help by unbelief.”

Now, that’s a bold statement to tell Jesus.

 It’s also one that most of us struggle to admit. Friends, we must muster up the courage to believe and not doubt. “All things are possible if you believe “—Mark 9:23.

You might not have all the confidence in the world, but as a result of my own struggle, can I encourage you to start with God?

If you haven’t made Jesus your Lord and Savior, I want to encourage you to do so today. The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 “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. It is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

 When you put your confidence in God, He will lead you not only to salvation BUT also cause you to grow and thrive.

So, be confident in what He has called you to be and do by simply believing that He who calls you will also qualify you. He will show you the way. And will connect you to the right people. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” –1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

Another encouragement I have for you, if you’re struggling with believing, is to remember the promise found in Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.”

Joseph had a dream he once shared with his brothers, and all it seemed to get him was sold into slavery and various other troubles. I wonder how often he questioned if he had heard God or asked himself where God was!

Friends, I’ve been there, and I just wanted to share an insight God shared with me about holding on to His promises: Hold on with patience!

Joseph had to learn to be patient before he could be Pharaoh’s second in command, a position that would ultimately save Joseph, his family, and many nations. Joseph didn’t know his dream would require that he be sold into slavery, be accused, and placed in prison, not to mention be forgotten—yet all of this was part of God’s plan for Joseph’s life.

 When we feel God has forgotten us, the truth is we have often underestimated God’s displaying patience toward us. That might sound a little backward. Yes, God is displaying patience towards us. Could it be possible that He is waiting for us to believe so that our growth can begin?

I was sent here today to encourage and remind someone that Jesus is in control and has a plan far bigger than our own. I’ve learned that God sometimes waits for us to believe Him. He is patiently waiting to see if we will grow into what He has called us to be through simple obedience and trust that He controls the process.

Be patient. Remember, the process has its purpose.

God is patient with us, and we must learn to be patient with our journey and wait for our dream or goal—whatever it might be. Believe my sisters and my brothers, and be confident in God. “Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word.” –Hebrews 10:23.

You Are Enough.

March 16, 2024 /

Matthew Botelho

“One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,” There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number of five thousand.” –John 6:8-10.

I do not think this lad knew what type of day he was about to step into when his feet first hit the floor that morning. In hindsight, I believe that same thing of myself: most mornings, my feet first hit the floor. The thought of waking up to a brand-new day seems so small and ordinary at that point that I don’t even think about it as a blessing given to me by our loving Father in heaven. I got to wake up and rejoice in this brand-new day, and I have been given the choice to do whatever God has planned for me. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” –Lamentations 3:22-23.

The question is: Will I, will we, be obedient to whatever the Lord has given us today, using it to partner with and glorify Him?

I felt led to focus on the boy in today’s Scripture because, to me, this boy represents each one of us.

The Bible says little about this child except that he showed up with five barley loaves and two small fish and gave everything he had to others. Without his knowing it, the lad had stepped out of his house on yet another ordinary morning to become part of something great.

But what obstacles, if any, did he need to overcome to do this?

I genuinely believe they were no different from those you and I face daily.

Let’s reflect for a moment on how God will lead us to where we will end today and how it all started with our taking an ordinary small step out of bed. “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” –James 2:26.

I suppose the boy woke up thinking about the day before him—its demands.

He may have felt like, “Well, best get up and get moving.”

He started his day by doing chores around the house, then heard noises in the distance. The sound began to get louder and louder, and as he looked outside to see where the noise was coming from, he saw a crowd of people walking by, excited and talking about someone named Jesus. His heart stirred and filled with excitement at what he was witnessing. He ran to his parents and told them all he had just witnessed. Then, he told them how he wanted to follow those people and see Jesus for himself. His father told him, “I have heard of this Jesus; believe me, you do not need to know him. So the answer is no, go back to your chores now and forget this whole nonsense.”

As it did with this boy, life and others can put demands on us. These things can swallow us up and bog us down, causing us to forget to see the big picture if we allow them.

Now, it could have ended right there. The lad could have just accepted what his father told him, and that was that. But this young boy had a stirring in him. Something was different about seeing people walking around, speaking the name of Jesus. Deep down, he felt he needed to see Him for himself. Psalm 34:4-5 says: “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”

How often have family members or friends told us not to seek Jesus or become part of a church? Saying we are crazy and being misled. The voice of others, of the world, yelling, “I know better! I know what you need!”

But, thank God you did not listen to the crowd; you decided not to obey the voices of others and stay back. And neither did this young man; instead, he followed another voice. That, Still, Small Voice, and he went out searching for Jesus.  He packed a small lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish; it was enough.

The cost of following Jesus is great. Maybe that is why people try to talk you out of going after the only One who gives Life; the name of Jesus has power and authority over the world. Jesus says in Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law cost of following Jesus.”

This lad knew within him that something great was about to happen, and he also knew that if he disobeyed his earthly father, there would be consequences. Yet the young boy does it anyway because he expects to see Jesus and witness something great. There are times when we will have to choose. Follow Jesus, or listen to man.

As the lad walks along with the crowd, finally, they reach their destination. There, he saw a great multitude of people, way too many to count. In John 6:1-14 the Bible calls this the feeding of the five thousand. This moment must have caused the lad to be awe-struck. He is about to become part of a moment, a miracle that will immortalize him in the New Testament. Yet, to him, he is just another body in a sea of people.

When we come to church, we are seemingly just another body in the crowd, but the truth is, our being there has purpose and significance. We are carrying something the Body of Christ needs.

You may not see or know it, but your heavenly Father has placed whatever it is in you for this exact moment.

“Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” –John 6:5-7.

God had predestined this moment in time.

He knew how He would feed the people.

His question was a test to see if His disciples would act in faith.

In verse seven, Philip answers Jesus: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” The Bible does not detail how this young lad met the disciples. But, what is incredible to me is the timing of all—how it all works out. How a poor boy’s lunch, which was only enough for him, was multiplied to feed the multitudes.

And, had he listened to his father, he would have missed Jesus—missed having what little he had miraculously used to meet the needs of so many.

He gave what he had—from his first fruits, which was more than enough to bring glory to Jesus.

You may not feel significant or like you have nothing to offer, but in the eyes of God, you are loved.

What He has placed in your hands and your heart, your gifts, talents, and contributions, are significant. When we least expect it, God asks us, “What do you have in your hands, and will you allow Me to multiply it?”

No one knows what happened to this lad after he gave his loaves and fishes, but we know he witnessed the miracle Jesus had performed and likely gained the knowledge that God had chosen to partner with him—and that God alone is more than enough. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” –Psalm 34:8-9.

I close with this, remember who you are in Christ. You, too, are chosen and loved and have a purpose.

If you are reading this and like the lad, feel the need to know Jesus, to receive His free gift of salvation, come, repent of all your sins, and ask Jesus to be Lord of your life. Ask to be washed clean by His precious Blood and receive new life this day. Believe me, my friend, Jesus is more than enough. “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 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 them up at the last day.” –John 6:35;40.

But As For Us.

February 3, 2024 /

MaryEllen Montville

“But Peter and John replied to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must judge [for yourselves]; for we, on our part, cannot stop telling [people] about what we have seen and heard.” –Acts 4:19-20.

As I read chapter four, my spirit leapt when Holy Spirit shone His Light on today’s verses. I recognized that, like Peter and John, we, His Church, are standing on the precipice of this same type of insidious spiritual oppression. And, like them, we, too, must choose who we will obey. God or man? “How dare you speak that name!” “How dare you tell us that your Jesus is the only way to heaven? I’m a good person, and love is love!” Brothers, we are now being faced with, or soon will be, being silenced. “Deny Jesus!” “Cancel Him!” You’re one of those radical Jesus freaks! Go too far, and we’ll cancel you too!

The world will do its best to silence anyone who professes Jesus, His teachings, and the stabilizing Truth found only in His Inerrant Word. Jesus is the only way to the Father. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” –John 14:6.

Yes, we love all men, just as Jesus commands us to. But loving the yet saved ought to propel, not prevent, us from speaking the Truth in love, lest they not hear Truth and remain lost. “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” –Matthew 15:10-14.

Beloved, we’re teetering on the crumbling edge of a world many have known and grown-up in.

A world that once felt seemingly firm beneath our feet is now giving way beneath us because, as it was then, so too today. Nothing will ever be the same. It can’t be. There is no going back. That’s not what Jesus intended—how He planned it, and He did plan it.

That’s hard for some to hear or accept; I get it.

Truth often is, but thankfully, our inability to reconcile Truth doesn’t stop it from being true.

Why? Because God’s Truth is fixed, not fluid. It will not be altered, weakened, or changed in any way by any man’s inability to make peace with it. “So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” –Isaiah 55:11. Remember what Jesus told His disciples when they, like many today, experienced a shifting of the ground beneath them, when relative predictability was replaced by a sure knowledge that at any moment, once reliable things, will quickly turn unreliable—unrecognizable. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” –Matthew 10:34-36.

Use a sword against their Roman oppressors, yes, absolutely!

The disciples were expecting a King David moment from Jesus—planning, in fact, for its imminent arrival. But a man’s enemy being a beloved family member? That was hard for these men whose family and community were a large and stabilizing part of their culture and identity, the unifying backbone of their everyday lives.

Our brothers had no New Testament pages to turn to for hope—no Holy Spirit yet living within them, providing them with a peace that truly does surpass all understanding. No, these followers of Jesus were pioneering the faith. Yes, they walked with Jesus, but in many ways, what He was teaching them, this new Kingdom He was ushering in, was as foreign to them as the idea of His loving the Gentiles!

These New Testament believers had said yes to Jesus without knowing what would come from their following this not-quite-King David, Messiah.

Still, God had chosen them purposefully. He had called them to partner with Him to help create the map we’d one day use to follow Jesus as they did, one faith-filled step at a time.

So what do we do with this Truth, the sure knowledge we possess that persecution will come?

I ask this because, I’d say, and Scripture points towards our being at this same place of no return as our brothers once were —or a hairsbreadth away, at best. We, too, are standing upon some same precarious edge of a world many of us have known and grown up in, one whose once firm precipice is about to give way beneath us because, as it was then, so too, today. Nothing will ever be the same. We know what’s coming and what’s expected of us when it does. We are blessed to have the Holy Spirit and our Bible as our guide. Thankfully for us, our Father has given us a step-by-step detailed guide to follow. Jesus, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, placed it on the hearts of those who have gone before us, pioneers of the faith, stalwarts, each.

As for me, by God’s grace and in His strength, I have decided to follow Jesus. “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 3:13.

As the old hymn says, “No turning backing, no turning back.”

When asked by Jesus if he would turn away like so many others, Peter has the best answer I’ve heard concerning the decision we each must make. Do we follow Jesus, no matter what happens, or do we fall away?

” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You [alone] have the words of eternal life [you are our only hope]. We have believed and confidently trusted, and [even more] we have come to know [by personal observation and experience] that You are the Holy One of God [the Christ, the Son of the living God].” –John 6:68-69.

Jesus assures those who follow Him that trials and persecution will come.

But to those who persevere, who’ll not deny Him, who’ll stand and fight, lifting His Banner of Righteousness, Love and Truth high above whatever tides of opinion or rejection may ebb and flow around us, to them, to us, He says: “But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.” –Matthew 24:13.

Friends, listen to what Joshua shared with those who, like us, were facing the same spiritual battles we are. “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” –Joshua 24:14-15.

Who will you fear? And by fear, I mean respect, reverence, serve, honor, and obey friends.

Who will you serve? You not choosing is your choice. So, if you’re still wavering between serving the world or the Lord, may I encourage you to cease delaying now and choose Jesus!

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