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"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Tag: God (Page 3 of 18)

Season Of Salvation.

October 18, 2025 /

Matthew Botelho

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” –Ecclesiastes 3:1

One thing I love about living in New England is the change of seasons. For me, there is no other area in the United States to experience these changes, quite like New England. A place where you can drink in the picture-perfect beauty God has prepared for all of us to enjoy. If you ever have a chance to visit here, I highly recommend it! Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, God has truly blessed us with such a beautiful variety of seasons. God’s creation is an extraordinary gift we should never take for granted. “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.” –Psalm 91:1-4.

All of life is a glorious gift from God. “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” –2 Peter 1:3

Each season brings both something new to learn and overcome.

We, the believers in Jesus, are all in different seasons of our faith walk. Whether you are a new believer or have been walking with our Lord Jesus for many years, if you are walking in obedience to Him, you are in the place God wants you. King Solomon brings this to light in the book Ecclesiastes.

In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon writes that there is a season for all things in life.

So for this teaching, I will focus on the first three verses of chapter 3 in Ecclesiastes, as they address not only the natural aspects of our lives but also the spiritual. For the believer in Christ, it begins with taking that first step of following Jesus—death to the old man and a spiritual rebirth to the new. “A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal” —Ecclesiastes 3:2-3.

In the natural order of life, there is birth and death.

We are born knowing nothing, incapable of caring for ourselves. Without the care, love, and support of our parents, we would have died. We are born sinful and into a sinful world, we live by the desires of our flesh because, apart from a born-again life in the Spirit, without Jesus alive in us, there is only death—eternal separation from the Father. And we will remain spiritually dead until the day when your sinful ways bring us to the end of ourselves, that place of surrender, where we turn to no one but God. Spiritually speaking, we are quite literally the walking dead. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 6:23.

If God is your Father, then you’ve had that Lifegiving encounter with Jesus that changed your forever. But if God is not your Father, then clearly you are not following Jesus. However, all that can change in an instant if you really want it to. How? Call out to Jesus. Ask Him into your heart and life. Starting now, you can begin to follow Jesus by faith. You may know little about Jesus or about a life of faith, but the one thing you do know is that you want to have a life-changing encounter with Him. That you’re ready and willing, just like His disciples were, to drop everything to follow Him, and said, “Yes, I’ll follow You, Jesus.”

Jesus will set you free from your sin by forgiving you when you receive Him into your heart.

You are now born again in the Spirit, saved from the deadly consequences of your sin nature. “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.'” –John 3:6-7. According to God’s Word, being reborn happens: “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.

Eternal life with Jesus becomes ours the moment Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior.

Then, by the power of His Spirit at work in you, helping you to do what you cannot do by yourself, Jesus enables you to put to death your sin nature, so that you might live according to His Spirit at work in you. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.” –John 6:63

We crucify our flesh when we make that decision to follow Jesus. “A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted” –Ecclesiastes 3:2

Just as there is a process involved in growing a garden, there is also a process of growing in the Spirit.

There is the spiritual tilling of the soil of our heart, then the seed of God’s Word being sown into it. God is the tiller of the soil, your heart, which consists of your mind, will, and emotions. The seed is the Word of God, planted in your heart. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and Spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” –Hebrews 4:12.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us about this in the parable of the Sower. When the seed, God’s Word, is planted in good ground, that is, your heart hungry and ready to receive it, it grows and begins to produce good fruit. Jesus said, “But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” –John 4:8

The seed that is planted in your heart is God’s Word, His promises, and it’s incorruptible.

This means that when you are genuinely saved, your salvation is eternally sealed in Christ Jesus. “Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” –1 Peter 1:23-25

And what is produced from a life truly transformed by God’s Spirit? The fruit of His Spirit. And what does this fruit look like? Scripture says this is how you’ll recognize it: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” –Galatians 5:22.

This fruit is often produced during moments of testing—of growth.

But once produced, it is evidence of the seed of salvation. Jesus told His disciples, and tells you, you’ve been chosen to yield this same fruit. You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” –John 15:16

Lastly, Ecclesiastes 3:3 says there is “A time to kill, And a time to heal.”

Now, I’m not talking about the murderous act of taking another life. Spiritually speaking, I’m talking about crucifying our fleshly desires. We live in a fleshly body, sure, but that does not mean we must give in to its desires. All that hate, wrath, jealousy, lust, drunkenness, whatever has held you captive, when you are born again, that old way of thinking and acting must and will be put to death. How? Only by the power of God’s Holy Spirit at work in you, that’s how. Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” –John 15:4-5

 It’s in our abiding in, staying close to Christ, that we find our healing and enter into Jesus’ perfect love. And Jesus’ love for us is unmatched. “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” –1 John 4:17-18

To you, my brothers and sisters reading this today, I pray, whatever season you might find yourself in, the Light of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you to guide you through.

For those who want to know Jesus personally, to be guided by Him, I invite you today to ask Him into your heart. Believe He is the Son of God, that Jesus is God, and that He paid the price required of Him to cleanse you of all your sins. Call on Jesus today, as your Lord and Savior. “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” –Romans 10:13

Amen.

Put it In the Water…

August 23, 2025 /

MaryEllen Montville

“When she could hide him no longer, she made a papyrus basket, coated it with tar and pitch, placed the baby inside, and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” –Exodus 2:3.

There comes a time in every man’s life, many times, actually, where we have to put the basket in the water. We have to let go and trust the plan of the Father. –Elizabeth Elliott.

I pray God uses the above picture to remind us of two things: first, that what God placed on Amram and Jochebed’s hearts to entrust back into His Providential care was an actual baby, their precious, infant son.

God often asks His elect to do hard things—Father Abraham, Queen Esther, and each of Jesus’ Apostles would surely attest to this Truth.

Secondly, I pray God’s Holy Spirit reminds us that Jesus does not ask us to do something He has not already given us the grace, strength, and ability to accomplish. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” –2 Peter 1:3.

But back to Amram and Jochebed.

Think of the level of faith it took for Jochebed to obey God.

Moses is the child referred to in Exodus 1:1 as a “goodly baby.” The term “goodly” or tov in Hebrew is a throwback to Genesis, where we first hear it used by God on the 6th day of Creation to describe the perfection, functionality, and completeness of all of His works. “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was (Tov) very good…”

God was now asking Jochebed to take her hands off of the very “goodly child” He had given them, and to trust Him that He would protect and care for Moses. Today’s scripture assures us that Jochebed did just that. She trusted God, put Moses in the basket, and released him to the Nile’s watery embrace.

“About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.” —Exodus 2:1-4.

That “goodly” babe would grow into a man God had foreordained to help deliver His chosen people, Israel, from Pharaoh’s cruel, oppressive grip. Though Jochebed knew her baby was tov, destined even, for something great perhaps, still, circumstances dictated she had no choice other than to leave Moses’ fate in God’s hands; a fate, mind you, the Providence of God Himself had orchestrated.

What’s in your basket, child of God?

What precious promise, hope, ministry, child, partner, possession, what future dream have you been doing your best to keep hold of, beloved?

What precious thing is God asking you to entrust to His Providential care as He calls you to follow Him to the watery edge of surrender?

It’s from God, that much you know.

You’ve held it close to your heart, fed it, nurtured it for a season, and the peace of God that only He can give assures you it came from Him.

And yet, despite all of this, God’s Providence is, dare I say, bearing down on you, pressing you to release it back into His care. To trust Him, despite your knowing.

You sense His Holy Spirit pressing upon you to move in a direction so diametrically opposed to your own desire. Yet, His pull is so powerful it feels like some super magnet you cannot resist, drawing you in the utter opposite direction from where or how you thought you’d go.

Now all you can do is put your basket in the water, stand back, keep watch, and wait on God.

What will you do, beloved, when you can no longer “hide away” what God has given you? When you come face to face with having to know for certain if you genuinely believe that God will provide you with the grace to surrender all into His providential care?

An aside here for anyone who has never encountered the term “Providence” associated with God. Scripture explains God’s Providence rather simply: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” –Proverbs 16:33.

Or maybe you’d recognize God’s Providence explained this way: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” –Jeremiah 1:5.

As with Moses before him, God had predestined Jeremiah for the work and calling planned for him to do before the foundation of the world.  

So it is with you, too, beloved.

God has given you a “goodly promise,” and the peace that only He can provide a soul confirms it. And yet, if God is asking you to entrust what you “know that you know” He has given you, back into His Sovereign care, will you obey Him and put your basket in the water? Or do you want the gift God has given you more than you desire its Giver?

Each man must search his own heart; I pray that each of us follow Jochebed’s example.

I pray we’re all seeking to know and trust in the Giver far more than wanting to hold onto something we know He has given us.

Just as Jochebed could never lose Moses, regardless of God’s actions or how He might use him to accomplish His Kingdom purposes and plan, neither can you lose what God has entrusted to you.

“tov” doesn’t simply mean “good” as in God’s finished Creation, being perfect, functional, beautiful, and complete.

Tov also implies that something or someone fulfills the Divine purpose for which it was created.

With this in mind, I pray, like Amram, Jochebed, and Moses before you, that you might fulfill your true purpose in God: to trust Jesus, desiring Him and His Perfect, Providential will for your life more than anything else. Far above people, dreams, hopes, husbands, wives, children, relationships, even those heart’s desires, He’s entrusted into your care. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” –Exodus 20:3.

Put it all in the water, beloved child of God, taking Him at His Word. Believing that you cannot lose what Christ has given you—even unto your very life if you’ll but trust Jesus enough to release it back into His care. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” –Matthew 6:33.

In Romans 10:9-10, God has made a straightforward way for you to do just that: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.”

Jireh Shalom; God of Peace.

August 16, 2025 /

Matthew Botelho

“And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided’ –Genesis 22:14

Jesus is Omnipresent. He’s in tomorrow, just as He is today. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the end. What comfort that brings as we go through different seasons throughout our lives, knowing God is always with us; in those seasons meant to grow us, times of refreshing, and our “be still and know” seasons.

During these times, if we find ourselves asking God, “I just need a Word from You,” that is when we need to open up our Bible more than ever. It is during those uncertain times that we need God to lead us and turn to Him. Jesus reminds us to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you.” –Matthew 6:33.

The answers you’re in search of will come as you seek God’s will.

It was this scripture that helped me and my family during our “season”. I pray that sharing a bit of my testimony will help edify and bring comfort to those going through a time of uncertainty.

Here’s what God has been doing in our lives:

In May of this year, I tore a tendon in my ankle outside of my workplace; it caused me a whole lot of pain and discomfort. So much so, I needed to take medical leave. The only problem was that the accident had happened outside of my workplace, so I wasn’t able to collect workers’ compensation. I had, however, accumulated vacation and sick time. After using up that option, I was able to take on subcontract work from home while waiting to hear from a doctor.

A few weeks later, I was scheduled for surgery to repair my tendon.

The doctor assured me that it would feel better in the end, but I would need to trust the healing process, which I am still going through. As of this writing, that subcontract work has dried up, but not my faith in God.

Why?

Because of God’s faithfulness.

You see, during all this time, my family and I lost nothing.

Our rent was paid, our bills were paid on time, and we had groceries in the fridge.

Nothing was lost. God has ensured ongoing provision for me and my family so that we have not lacked anything. “I have been young and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging for bread. He is merciful and lends; And his descendants are blessed “–Psalm 37:25-26

God alone sustains us, friends, not our jobs. Your career may be a vessel He uses, but He alone is your Supplier. There may well come a time when you’re laid off, fired, or retire from your job. The harsh reality is that someone else might, or one day will, take over where you left off.

The question then is, can you be at peace with this thought, or does losing your position, career identity, or salary stir up fear in you? In Ecclesiastes 2:18, King Solomon writes: “Then I hated all my labor which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”

In our humanity, we fear the unknown.

Our faith in Christ overcomes the unknown.

The word of God says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” –Hebrews 11:6

Jobs will come and go.

Life will throw us curveballs.

It’s what we do in those moments that reveals our character.

My prayer today is that you will turn to the One who brings all peace and provision during times of uncertainty. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; Not as the world gives to do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” –John 14:27.

This same Jesus, the Giver of grace, peace, and mercy, announced to all, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28.

And if you don’t know Jesus yet, turn to Him now, during these uncertain times, and allow Him to minister to you, restoring you to a renewed relationship with the Father. As I said at the beginning of this teaching, the greatest gift that we will ever receive is the salvation God has given us through His son, Christ Jesus. “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” –1 Timothy 2:1;3-6.

Amen

Fan The Flame.

July 26, 2025 /

Pastor Maria Braga

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” –Hebrews 10:24-25

Often, when a storm passes through our neighborhoods, we experience a loss of electricity. If it’s dark, we are unable to do all the things we do when we have power. We, believers everywhere, share a similar experience in our faith walk. We love Jesus and do our best to stay connected to Him throughout our lives. However, sometimes we fall out of fellowship with our Lord and Savior, and this connection is severed, leaving us without power.

If we are secure in Jesus, have a strong walk with God, surround our lives with God, and have this inexplicable excitement about our faith, how can we fall out of fellowship with Jesus? Is that even possible?

Yes.

And it can happen quicker than we think!

Here’s how: We stop stirring ourselves and one another in our faith through God’s Word, prayer, serving, and fellowship, and we disconnect from our spiritual practices. As time goes by, we become increasingly parched. We begin to slip away and fall into old routines, which quickly take our joy and rob us of the new life Christ has given us. We start to feel like we’re back in the old life—the life we once desperately despised and were so tired of.

What are we to do at this point in our walk of faith?

Can we return to Jesus?

Of course!

By quickly repenting, turning, and renewing our focus. By stepping back into the Life Christ offers, and progressing in our spiritual growth. By deciding to return to our Spiritual practices, which we found in Christ, having tasted and seen how good they are.

Hebrews teaches us to stir one another up in our faith.

To stir means to provoke or promote with intention and purpose.

Proverbs 27:17 teaches us: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” The Scriptures encourage us to do this because it is essential to maintaining a vibrant faith and to keeping our walk with God as our top priority.

A continual stirring of our faith is necessary for our growth.

This “new life” we have been afforded is like a road leading us to a destiny. What destiny? Our ultimate destination, heaven. We are to be sure of who we are, believing the promises of God, and continually renewing our minds each day, to stay spiritually ablaze and unmovable.

A believer in Jesus Christ isn’t supposed to be an Island, alone, deserted. When we become isolated, it is like a coal that falls from a heap of burning coals. Left alone, it dies out. It needs the heat and flame generated by the other coals to continue burning hot.

John 15:1 tells us that Jesus is the true Vine and God is the gardener. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” When we come to this new life in Christ, we must connect to the Vine, continually bearing good fruit, and we must stay connected, thriving in the same faith.

As we read God’s Word, God speaks to us. As we pray, God sharpens us, and God quickens our spiritual understanding. As we serve, God strengthens our compassion for others. After all, God, being the Great Gardner, tills the soil of our hearts and produces a harvest as we avail ourselves of these faith principles. Whenever we position ourselves to connect with God in any of the above ways, He partners with us, filling us with all we need. Words are not enough to describe this at times; it truly is a heavenly experience.

Hebrews 10:14-16 says: “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them  after that time, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.”

As believers, the sacrifice witnessed at the Cross is always before us. We know there is a God who sent His only beloved Son to die, so that God’s children don’t perish, but instead, when we depart this earth, we live in heaven with Him forevermore; this is no small matter. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” -2 Cor 5:17

How wonderful to know that we are made new.

How wonderful to enjoy lives that are purified, sanctified, and set apart, because the Holy Spirit is living inside of us. Our sins God sees no more. Psalm 103:12 reminds us, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”

We are now living new lives; our old life is gone.

To best experience this “new life,” the Apostle Paul instructs us, just as he did the 1st century church, on what steps to take: 1) As new creations, we must accept that our time zone has changed. We must understand the time in which we live: meaning, God’s timing is not the same as man’s time. So we learn to wait on God. 2) Being a new creation means living in a new community of Bible believing, with others who have been saved by grace and are now spiritually washed by the Blood of the Lamb. 3) As a new creation, we live in the freedom of the Spirit rather than by the laws of men. 4) As new creations, we live a transformed life. A life that reflects Christ. A life that has been changed by Love. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35

As we navigate these exciting changes and experiences, not only in our natural person but also in the Spirit, we must stir ourselves up in the most holy faith to continue marching forward, assured of our heavenly destination, loving one another. We must look at those coming up behind us and encourage them to join us. We are to care for their souls because we now understand the value of the human soul. We know the price Jesus paid to save their soul, His precious Blood. And, we share the Gospel, inviting everyone with ears to hear into the Kingdom of heaven with us for all eternity.

We don’t forget to encourage one another.

To stay the course of our calling by reminding each other of this journey we are on: one of the Word, prayer, fellowship, and service to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, until He calls us home. When it gets tough, we never quit, we never give up, and we never stop following the One who loves us unconditionally, because He holds us through our valleys and is beside us on our mountaintops.

We are never alone. We are walking in victory, even when we don’t feel like it.

Father, today, I pray You touch my heart in a new way. Please give me the courage to continue this walk of faith and give me the desires of your heart. I align my heart to yours and surrender my will to yours. Please remind me to stir myself spiritually and to encourage those around me to do the same. Let my heart reflect yours, my Lord and Savior, in Jesus’ name, amen.

“God again designated a certain day as ‘Today,’ when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” –Hebrews 3:15.

What Really Matters…

June 28, 2025 /

MaryEllen Montville

“For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.” –Philippians 1:10.

Within one short verse, Paul uses “you” twice. He’s making it plain to each Philippian believer he’s addressing, and to us, that our relationship with Jesus is not only personal, more, that it matters to God how each of us walks out our faith. “I want you to understand.” Why? “So that you may live pure and blameless lives.”

Just because?

No!

Your Christian walk matters because you have been chosen in Christ, set apart, called to live a holy life, even as your Father is Holy. You are God’s Ambassador, beloved. You have been chosen both to carry and spread the Light of the World! “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” –2 Corinthians 5:19-20.

God is using Paul’s voice to speak His Truth, to His people—the Church.

Jesus, the Living Word of God, points anyone with ears to hear toward the Father. Directing them to emulate His own walk by doing His Father’s will. “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” –James 1:22-25.

Still, God knows that we, like our Philippian brothers to whom Paul was speaking, are incapable of living pure and righteous lives; that we, like they, cannot be filled with the fruit of the Spirit apart from the ongoing, sanctifying work of Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, you cannot talk, walk, think, or love like Jesus. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” –Philippians 2:13. God’s Holy Spirit is at work in us to shape, mold, and remove the dross of your sin, shame, brokenness, and guilt, so that as we cling to Him, we might look, walk, talk, and think more and more, like His Son, Jesus. “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.

In Malachi 3:3, God makes it clear that He is a Refiner. “He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.” As He was with Israel, His chosen people, so too with His Church—we’ve been grafted in after all, in Christ Jesus. “He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” –Galatians 3:14.

It is God’s Holy Spirit at work in us, smelting and purifying, forging, molding, and shaping.

In the fire of affliction, we’re made soft, pliable, usable—more Christ-like in our reliance on the Father. And so it’s there that God does His work of remaking us. In the Refiner’s fire, our lifelong journey of cycling through times of fire, forging, and water begins to burn off the dross of the world that has covered us over—encased us, really, like some molten shell—blinding us from seeing who we were created to be before time existed. Before, as His Word calls it, “The foundation of the earth,” hence, the need for our refining. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will.” –Ephesians 1:3-5.

God’s Word is Pure.

Thus, as we drink it in, it has the power to refine us—renewing our minds, imparting wisdom, depositing joy, and purifying our hearts. “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” –Psalm 19:7-8.

Yet knowing holiness isn’t something we could ever achieve apart from Jesus, in one inconceivable act of love so pure and unfathomable, God sent His only Son into the world to die. Why? Because only a Holy, Perfect, Sinless God Himself could atone for your sins and mine. “For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.” –2 Corinthians 5:21.

Child of God, having sacrificed His only Son for you, remember, your salvation is personal. God wanted you to be restored into right relationship with Him through Jesus’s death and resurrection, able to receive New Life; is it any wonder then that God used Paul to remind you of ” what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.“

Still, the very God who created you knows your frailty, beloved, your inability to “remain in Him” apart from Him. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me you are able to do nothing.” –John 15:5. Hence why, from that same pool of unplumbed love, God promised you this: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” –Isaiah 41:10.

If you have strayed from the narrow way, beloved, repent. Return to the Father who is waiting to receive you, arms wide open, eyes already watching the horizon to catch a first glimpse of you, and then. “…live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.”

Jesus is the only One who can enable you and me to live that pure and blameless life He requires of His children. He’s a good Father who gives His children the supernatural ability to do all things through Christ. “I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]” –Philippians 4:13.

You dear friend, yes, you. The Lord has led you here today. It’s no accident that you’ve read this teaching all the way through. That stirring you feel in your belly, that’s God. It’s Him saying that He loves you and wants a relationship with you. Won’t you welcome Jesus into your life now by acknowledging your need for Him? Listen to what He promises if you do: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” –Matthew 7:7-8.

Present In His Peace

June 21, 2025 /

Matthew Botelho

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” –John 14:27

Jesus says the above while meeting with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, during the Passover Supper. When Jesus spoke these Words to his disciples, they must have been wondering, “What do you mean ‘peace I leave with you?'” He had walked with them and taught them for three years, and now He was saying He was leaving “His peace” with them? What?! “Where’s He going?” must have been the question circling the table. Surely, none of the disciples felt very peaceful when Jesus spoke those words to them. His words were probably met with confusion, as the disciples did not understand what Jesus was talking about—yet.

I know I have felt like the disciples must have a few times in my walk with Jesus.

Not knowing what would happen or where to go when a problem arises. And in my humanity, I forget who I have with me, that I am never alone. The reason for that? I took my eyes off Jesus and focused instead on how big the problem in front of me looked. Has that ever happened to you, friend?

 I needed to be reminded that Jesus is and always has been with me during my times of trouble. And when we read John 14:26, Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom My Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you.” –John 14:26

At the moment of our salvation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit; He indwells us now. From that moment until God calls us home, His Holy Spirit helps us through every trial. Listen to how Jesus describes this indwelling. “If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide in you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be with you and will be in you.” –John 14:15-17

We know God’s Holy Spirit is forever with us, in us, because when Jesus told His disciples He had to leave them and return to the Father, He promised them this: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” –John 14:18

The Holy Spirit lives in us to empower us, lead and guide us, and remind us that God is always with those who believe in their heart and confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. “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.

The Holy Spirit is with us through every problem and in every storm we face.

He is the peace of God that reminds us that no matter what we face or whatever happens, God is always with us.

We’re the ones who need to remind ourselves,” God is with me!”

Even when you don’t see evidence of that unchanging Truth, “God is with you!”

Even when you don’t feel it, “God is with you!”

 I pray this Truth is a comfort to someone reading this today.

There is an account in the Gospel of Mark where this peace was tested in the hearts of all the disciples. At that time, they were all figuring this out through the teachings Jesus was sharing with them. They were trying to understand who Jesus was, really. In Mark 4:35-38, it reads: “On the same day when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the wind and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.” But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing!” –Mark 4:35-38

Ok, so there are at least four experienced fishermen in that boat who must have been through many storms, but this one seems to hit a little harder than the others. They were trying to do what came naturally to them by allowing their knowledge and experience of sailing and the sea to take over. Yet, no matter how much experience they or any of us may have with small storms, unknowable, more powerful storms will always rise up. It is in those moments that we tend to forget Jesus’ promise to be with us always, and so fear and anxiety “fill our boat.”

Jesus’ disciples forgot who was with them in their boat, that Jesus was sleeping peacefully, unbothered by what was going on around Him. I wonder, have you ever experienced the type of peace that allows you to sleep soundly when all hell is breaking loose? That was most certainly not the level of peace the disciples were experiencing. Instead, His disciples asked, “Don’t you even care, Jesus?!” How many of us have asked that very same question?

In our humanity, we yell, “Don’t you even care, God, that we are suffering?”

Yet, all is not lost, beloved in Christ Jesus.

Scripture continues this account. “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and the sea, “Peace be still.” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” –Mark 4:39

When God hears the cry of His children, He rises up and rebukes the wind, bringing us peace in the storm. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:6-7

God is not asleep as the world may believe.

He is fully aware of your present circumstances. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Are we present in His Presence?” If God is speaking during your storm, are you listening?

Be assured, beloved, that you can have peace in the storm. Jesus will give you this very peace to all who call Him Lord. He promised it to us. “My peace I leave with you, My peace I give you.”

Let this be the day you ask Jesus to give you peace in your storm by asking Him into your heart. Repent of your sins and be made new by His precious Blood shed for you. “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” –Isaiah 41:13.

We at Sonsofthesea are praying for you all. Amen.

God Remembered…

June 14, 2025 /

MaryEllen Montville

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.” –Genesis 8:1

Are you still waiting to be remembered? You know you heard the Lord; you’re sure of it. You felt it the instant His promise dropped in your belly, impregnating you with hope. But then, time wore down your resolve, like water dripping on a rock. Delay has taken its toll on hope. Caring little for the weeks, months, and even years you’ve been waiting. Thus, time is giving birth to moments of questioning instead of your promise. Did you really hear God speak, or, speaking proverbially, had you just eaten too much pizza? Proverbs 13:12 sums up waiting and delay this way: “When hope’s dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be depressing. But when at last your dream comes true, life’s sweetness will satisfy your soul.”

And then it happens. Confirmation and relief arrive, joyously welcomed as long-lost friends. God sends a powerful whiff of hope wafting through the air. Having smelled this before, you’d instantly recognize that scent anywhere. It’s the scent of God-sent hope as familiar to you as the long-ago smell of your favorite thing cooking in your mom’s kitchen, and, having caught its familiar aroma now, you’re instantly filled with new hope as the memory of God’s promise floods every fiber of your being as wholly and fresh as the day He first spoke it.

Noah had caught the familiar scent of God’s promise on the air the day the dove he’d released flew back to him with the fresh sprig of an Olive twig in its beak. “After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.” –Genesis 8:10-12.

Now, you might be saying, “Okay, not too bad. Noah only waited 2 weeks for his promise to come to pass.” But wait, there’s more.

“After 150 days, exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks became visible. After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.” –Genesis 8:3-12.

So, doing the math, it wasn’t 14 days, but some 279 days or roughly 9 months, but wait, again, there’s more to Noah’s story: “Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.”

Another two months passed before, at last, the earth was dry.

So, that means nearly a year had passed before Noah would witness the fulfillment of the covenant promise God had planted in his belly. “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.” –Genesis 7:17-18.

So, what’s the point of my sharing all of this with you?

It’s simple, really.

Hope.

I’m here today to encourage you. Consider this a new line on which you can take a fresh grip with your tired hands. Then remind yourself God hasn’t forgotten you, beloved.

God is at work in your life, even amongst the flood waters.

If God has given you a promise, and He has, His Word is filled with His promises; you can rest assured that God will see that promise come to pass in your life. “People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” –Hebrews 6:16-20.

You know you heard the Lord; you’re sure of it. You felt it the instant His promise dropped in your belly, impregnating you with hope. Rejoice, beloved! You’re in good company. Noah heard the Lord’s promise as well. As did Father Abraham, Sarah, King David, Joseph, and the list goes on. Yet, despite their certainty of having heard God’s promise, it’s said that Abraham waited 25 years after hearing God’s promise before Isaac was born. Joseph had to wait some 13 years before he was released from prison and became the second in command over all of Egypt. And Moses waited for 80 years while God readied him for his calling.

Why the wait?

God was at work behind the scenes, working all things together for good—for His glory and the good of each of them, and He’s working things out for you as well.

In the end, each of those listed above beheld the fulfillment of God’s promise:

Sarah, once barren, bitter, and ashamed, held her newborn, Isaac—God’s promise to her and Abraham, in her arms. –Genesis 21:1-8 NLT.

King David, anointed by Samuel as a boy to be Israel’s next King, waited, some say, 22 years before he took the throne. –1 and 2 Samuel NLT.

Joseph played a crucial role in helping to save his people and many Egyptians from famine—to say nothing of the joyous reunion he experienced with his long-estranged family. –Genesis 45-47 NLT.

Yet each of them waited on God’s promise to be fulfilled in their lives—I know it’s been a long time, and you’re getting discouraged. That’s why I’ve been sent to you today—to say hang on! God Remembers you! “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” –Numbers 23:19.

And new friend, one of the most life-changing promises that will ever be made to you personally is found in the Word of God.

What is this promise?

That a simple prayer said from a heart that believes Jesus is real—that He is the Living Son of God—even though you may not fully understand why you believe, will, in an instant, take you from the kingdom of darkness, this world, and make you an eternal citizen of heaven—God’s own child, made clean, new, you are forgiven now, of your every sin. That’s God’s promise to you and to whosoever will believe. And God cannot lie. “If you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.” –Romans 10:9-10.

The Gate That Leads To Life.

May 24, 2025 /

Matthew Botelho

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to Life, and there are few who find it.” –Matthew 7:13-14

In this opening scripture, Jesus teaches the people what it means to follow Him. I remember reading this passage when I first started walking with our Lord, and it puzzled me. “What gate am I supposed to walk through?” I thought to myself, looking around. I wonder if Jesus saw that same reaction from the people He taught and His disciples.

Now, after maturing some, I see and hear this scripture, and it brings me Life. Jesus is the Gate that leads to Life. He is the Narrow Way, and not many find it. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” –John 10:9

There is a broad path that leads to destruction. I picture it as a bunch of people crammed together, leaping over one another, trying to get ahead of one another, doing whatever it takes to make it or to beat out another person, fueled by a destructive “me first mentality.” Allowing fleshly desires to overtake and consume them; that’s a dark place to be.

The apostle Paul writes to the Church in Galatia about these works of the flesh. What was happening then is still happening today; there’s nothing new. Paul writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultry, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissension, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” –Galatians 5:19-21

When we come to know Jesus, He changes our mindset from darkness into Light, from death to Life. Jesus has made the way! Darkness flees when the Light is present. Jesus says, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” –John 12:44-46

A believer’s lifestyle needs to be one of worship and prayer, not trying to gain an advantage over another to get ahead. Jesus says, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” –Matthew 6:33. We walk with Jesus down this narrow path, set apart from the “worldly” lifestyle. We are to be transformed into a new way of living.

Jesus even said this to the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees at the temple, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” –John 23:25-26.

I recall my pastor saying many times, “true salvation is not first seen from the outside. It starts from the inside, then it shows itself outwardly.” Thanks, pastor Lino! He always points us directly to the Word of God. “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,  he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” –Titus 3:4-5.

Your salvation is not based on what is on the outside, how good we look on the outside, but rather, salvation starts when you have been washed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which leads us to repentance. “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” –Romans 2:4

You can look all pristine and well put together on the outside, but be a total train wreck on the inside. This is why we must remember that works without faith in Jesus Christ will not save us.

Speaking to His Church, Jesus reminds us: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” –John 15:5-6

Later, Jesus says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.” –John 15:7-8

Let us abide together, Church. With Jesus as its Head and we as His Body.

There is no Life in the Body without The Head controlling or telling His Body how to move.

According to the Oxford Language Dictionary, to abide means: to accept or act in accordance with (a rule, a decision, or recommendation).

This means that when we decide to follow Jesus, we choose to follow Him fully. We follow Him fully by loving Him and following the statutes He laid down for us, His commandments. “If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15.

Ask yourself, “If I am living for Jesus, am I truly walking this narrow path? Or have some things gotten in the way of my walk?” Did I allow anything to come in, causing me to stumble? Reading Galatians 5:19-21 reminds me to examine my heart and ask our Lord Jesus if anything needs to be repented and thrown away. As David writes in his psalm, “Search me, O Go, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” –Psalm 139:23-24

David knew he was human and susceptible to sin. We are all human, and we all fall short. May I suggest you take a moment today to ask God to examine your heart?

If you were convicted after reading this teaching, I pray the Holy Spirit leads you to repent and ask for forgiveness. Repentance means to turn your mind and your heart away from that sin and worldly desires that lead to death, and ask Jesus to forgive you. “For godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow produces death.” –2 Corinthians 7:10.

Decide today to repent and walk no more in your sin. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” –Romans 10:9-10

We are praying for you all in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Even If.

April 26, 2025 /

MaryEllen Montville

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” –Daniel 3:16-18.

There is a hymn most Christians would instantly recognize; moreover, whose hearts would joyously and with complete abandon declare. I have decided to follow Jesus; No turning back, no turning back. Tho’ none go with me, I still will follow, no turning back, no turning back. Some say this familiar hymn was composed in 1959 by hymn editor William Jensen Reynolds using what is said to be the last words of a Christian convert of the mid-18th century as he and his family were being martyred for their faith. Other sources say these final words of the martyr, Nokseng, of the Garo tribe in Assam, India, a tribe looked upon as bloodthirsty savages, were turned into a hymn written by the Indian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh.

Whoever you may credit, this most sincere declaration is indelibly etched on our hearts. No question, each devout word took flight from Nokseng’s lips. This man was so in love with Jesus, so thoroughly convinced that Jesus is who He claimed to be and will do all He claimed He would do, that not even death, his own, nor that of his two sons and beloved wife, would deter him from turning his back on Jesus.

When Nokseng said there’d be no turning back, he meant it.

I pray the same can be said of you and me, beloved.

Mirroring Nokseng’s heart and flintlike faith, the Apostle Paul echoed his own fixed determination never to turn away from Jesus approximately 15 centuries later: “Yet every advantage that I had gained I considered lost for Christ’s sake. Yes, and I look upon everything as loss compared with the overwhelming gain of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. For his sake I did in actual fact suffer the loss of everything, but I considered it useless rubbish compared with being able to win Christ. For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law. God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ. How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by his resurrection: now I long to share his sufferings, even to die as he died, so that I may perhaps attain as he did, the resurrection from the dead” –Philippians 3:8.

If you have decided to follow Jesus, I pray the height and depth of their words and determined following burn as white-hot in your own heart, no turning back.

You may ask, “What do this song and the apostles’ words have to do with today’s Scripture verse?”

To which I’ll reply, “Everything.”

Much like the martyrs Nokseng and the Apostle Paul, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego each made a firm decision never to turn away from following Jesus. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” –Daniel 3:16-17.

Long before the moment came when each would face the very real threat of dying for Jesus, each had long before determined in their heart that his life was no longer his own. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]” –Matthew 16:24 Amp.

How blessed are you, dear Christian, to follow the One, True God, Jesus, who does not ask of His disciples something He is unwilling to do. How blessed we are that our Jesus goes before us in all things pertaining to faith and commitment to God, and by modeling how it is done, Jesus, our Greatest example, was willing to lay down His life in obedience to the Father’s will. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” –John 10:18.

Resurrection Sunday is just an arm’s length behind us.

Yet, the same “ever-before-us” decision asked and answered by those who have given up their lives for Jesus remains. “Brothers and sisters, together follow my example and observe those who live by the pattern we gave you. For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation]” –Philippians 3:17-18

As we plainly witnessed here today, those who claimed they followed Jesus did, in fact, do just that—even unto death.

Beloved, recognizing our life is a living sacrifice, we too must decide to follow Jesus’s ultimate example of obedience and love for the Father, knowing with unwavering certitude that, no matter what happens, believing what awaited Jesus on the morning of the third day awaits us as well. “Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did” —Romans 6:6-11.

So, new friend, have you decided to follow Jesus? No turning back? I’m praying you will. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” –John 11:25-26.

Bread, Not Bunnies.

April 19, 2025 /

MaryEllen Montville

“I alone am this living Bread that has come to you from heaven. Eat this Bread and you will live forever. The living Bread I give you is my body, which I will offer as a sacrifice so that all may live.” –John 6:51

Men might be willing for Christ to save them, but not for Him to reign over them—Charles Spurgeon.

Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday. A day when some will celebrate with their perhaps bi-yearly visit to church, wearing their new, or new-to-them, Easter outfits. Sadly, they’ll celebrate the day God defeated death and the grave as just a fun-filled day, complete with chocolatey treats instead of what it truly is: A Life-giving day that changed everything! The day Jesus, the sinless Son of God, took their sins and ours upon Himself, His once-for-all sacrifice, dying the criminal’s death we deserve so that all men might have New Life in Him and a restored relationship with the Father. For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” –1 Peter 1:18-19.

Still, knowing this, many will give Jesus His 45 minutes tomorrow, then consider their duty done; sadly, they will go on to celebrate the Easter bunny’s arrival with their children. Celebrating how he brought them baskets filled with jellybeans, toys, and chocolate bunnies, sometimes real ones—making him the hero of the day. Perishable trinkets will take the place of the Pearl of Great Price. Heaven’s kingdom realm is also like a jewel merchant in search of rare pearls. When he discovered one very precious and exquisite pearl, he immediately gave up all he had in exchange for it” Matthew 13:45-46.

They’ll give their children baskets full of candy but not share the unfathomable sacrifice Jesus made just for them. Instead of telling their children just how much Jesus loves them, or the immeasurable lengths He went to ensure they could be His, instead, they’ll take them on the hunt for that well-hidden golden egg—the prized egg, the reward for all their hunting efforts! The Apostle Paul had something to say about those who write Jesus out, replacing Him with idols, man’s thought-up imaginings, their “Easter best” efforts: “For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.” –1 Corinthians 1:18.

How thankful we are, dear Christian, that our hunt is over!

Jesus has risen, hallelujah! And so, too, shall we!

Our Prize is One we did not have to go in search of. Instead, He made His presence plain to us using His heavenly host to announce Himself that none could deny the most excellent Gift ever given to mankind: King Jesus, Bread of Life. “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. Don’t be afraid!” he said. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger” –Luke 2:9-12.

How fitting, beloved, that our King should be born in Bethlehem, known in Hebrew as the “House of Bread.” Jesus, Living Lechem (bread), declared of Himself: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” –John 6:35.

We see the foreshadowing of Jesus as the Bread of Life in the Book of Exodus.” Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.” –Exodus 25:23-24;30.

This bread was a sacred memorial offering, a reminder to God’s people of His Everlasting Covenant, Presence, and continual provision.

From the beginning, God’s heart towards His people has ensured that we are well-fed by His Word, sent first as life-sustaining manna in the wilderness. Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” –John 6:31.

Then, through Moses, God instructed His priests to place actual bread, a placeholder for Jesus, on a sulhan or table inside the Holy Place of the Tabernacle. Twelve loaves were to be baked and then arranged in piles of six each, made from the finest flour and covered with the finest incense laid out weekly before the Lord by His priests. His table and its Old Covenant bread foreshadowed a future table where the New Covenant Bread of Life would sit with His Apostles. And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” –Luke 22:19-20.

Bread factored heavily in Israel’s history, including that of the early church.

Bread was a staple, even in the poorest homes. Something that all people, regardless of their wealth, poverty, Jewish or Gentile background, skin color, or background, could relate to. Is it any wonder that Jesus, our humble King, who came so all men might receive His free gift of salvation, likened Himself to such a Life-Giving staple? His Body and Blood, Bread and Wine, Jesus also said: “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink” –John 6:53-55.

Jesus is not a man that He can lie, beloved.

Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the grave, defeating sin and death. Let us never forget that the shedding of our Bridegroom’s Blood is what makes us a spotless bride—you were bought at a very high price.

Each of John’s passages assures us that Jesus, the Bread of Life, can and promises to give New Life to all those who come to Him hungry for God’s real Food, sent to us that we might have New Life in Him today and eternal life in the world to come. “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” –John 6:58

New friends don’t make tomorrow about chocolate bunnies, easter baskets, and a new outfit. Make it about the Bread that came down from heaven. Make it all about Jesus, the Bread of Life. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. / And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” –John 11:25-26.

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