Quick thought from Seth

Today is our 65 th  Pandemic devotion! When we started this, it was meant to provide people a way to stay focused on Christ and God’s Word throughout these unsettling times while we could not meet physically. Well this Sunday we are getting back to meeting in person! If you want to know more about that you can watch a video here  https://youtu.be/BzhQs6ox0J4   and sign up here  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040e4caba62ca3f94-rocklane1 . So, today is our last devo and I want to focus on Philippians 4:8, a verse we briefly looked at yesterday.  Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ” When you go through anything, the way you perceive it, how you choose to think about it makes all the difference. This passage is a guide on how to make sure you are thinking correctly.

According to scripture Jesus was God in human form. He had access to unlimited power – though He chose not to use it (Philippians 2:6), He knew all things – including that He would die and come back to life. He had perfect faith, perfect righteousness and an exciting, though difficult, future. So… what could possibly make Jesus cry? We find two accounts of Jesus crying in the New Testament. The first, and most famous is in John 11 when Lazarus has died. The story goes like this,  John 11:33-37,  “When Jesus saw her  (Mary)  weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled.   34  And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”   35  Jesus wept. We know the rest of the story, Jesus calls Lazarus out of his own grave. So why did Jesus’ weep? Was it compassion for the mourners? Surely Jesus being moved by compassion throughout scripture (Luke 7:13; Matthew 15:32) was feeling compassio

Do you suffer from stinking thinking? That is how my dad often puts it. What I mean is you are always assuming the worst, cynical about everyone and everything, often drowning in woe-is-me sort of thoughts? Instead of the peace and strength we are meant to find in our Christianity do you find it to be obligatory, troubling and empty? Even a source of shame? I could keep giving examples, but I want to say that most of the issues that we face both personally and corporately comes from wrong-headed thinking. That is thinking that is focused on the wrong things and based on incorrect assumptions. Thinking that is devoid of the Gospel certainly fairly self-centered in its character. And before we go any further, you can ask my wife and my closest friends, I engage in stink’n think’n all the time. If you sense frustration in me this morning it because I am frustrated with myself!  Today I am thinking about three passages. First Romans 12:2 where Paul gives us the key to transformation w

I have a friend who got new eye contacts not long ago. When he put them in, he was annoyed that they were blurry. He assumed that his eyes were just getting used to the new prescription, so he left them in. He went on like this for a few days with no improvement and suddenly it dawned on him. He had a different prescription for each eye, maybe he had put them in the wrong eyes – so he swapped them, and he could suddenly see clearer than he had ever seen before! These contacts had the power to give clear or blurry vision it all depended on using them correctly. Today I want to look at anger – a potent emotion that is everywhere we look these days. Anger can be righteous and good and drive towards good change – but it can also be wrong headed, it can be mishandled and lead to devastation. Just like those contact lenses – the user must use it properly.  In John 2 Jesus gets angry and has His own version of a riot at the temple in Jerusalem.  John 2:13-16 13 The Passover of the

When I give the boys baths, I often lean them back in the tub, resting their head in my hand in order to rinse soap out of their hair. This allows me to get the soap out without getting their faces drenched, because they don’t like having their faces drenched. With each of my three sons we have gone through this faze where I have to gain their trust. They don’t like being leaned back and having to give up control to me. I tell them, “I got you son, I won’t let go, there is nothing to be afraid of.” It took a while, but Anthony and Jack finally got it and even came to like it. Charlie is just learning – never a dull moment with that little man. It is hard for me to understand why they fear, don’t they know that I have them? That I am strong enough and love them enough to care for them? Do you see what I am getting at? Today I am thinking about a famous story in the Bible that is chock full of meaning for us today. In  Matthew 14 the disciples are out in a boat in the middle of a la

I am so excited that we will be having on site worship services soon! If you haven’t heard we will be opening up our services on campus on June 14 th . (You can watch a video that details how we will be doing this by following this link:  https://youtu.be/BzhQs6ox0J4.)  One of the things that we all can’t help but notice these days is that we all have different opinions on everything!   We have different opinions about COVID 19 and how we should respond. Some say masks, some say no masks. Some say lock down some say open everything back up. We have varying opinions on the current political climate and on the racial situation in our country and what ought to be done in these areas. We even have different opinions on how we think Jesus would have us respond to these times!  One of the things I notice when I read about the early church was her unity. In Acts 2:44 says that “ they had everything in common”  and Acts 4:32 says,  “ Now the full number of those who believed were of one

Yesterday I had a conversation with a very dear friend of mine about our current climate. This friend came to me and said that they were simply afraid and a bit overwhelmed with everything going on. We have violent riots across the country, civilians and police officers being beaten, run over with cars, and killed. We have political chaos and vitriol constantly from all over. We even had police officers and their families being threatened. And, lest we forget, we are also in the midst of a world-wide pandemic! All of these things are ripe to spread fear and division and indeed they are.  So, I told my friend about two scriptures that help me when I am overwhelmed and am fearful.  The first are the words of the wise King Solomon in  Ecclesiastes 1:9, “ What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”  I believe that what makes these situations most disturbing is the belief that this is the first time it’s e

Today, a mentor a friend of mine, Mark McKinney shares some thoughts on dealing with uncertain times. I had the privilege and honor of working for Mark in my first job.  Life on earth truly is uncertain and things can change rather suddenly.  While we know this is true we have a hard time mentally holding on to this truth.  We want to believe things will remain the same and be somewhat predictable. On March 9 th  my wife flew to Israel with a group of friends to tour the Holy Lands.  She left with great anticipation to see first-hand the places where Jesus had lived and walked.  During her first week she got to visit the sites around the Seas of Galilee. However, on March 16 th  her tour was shut down and she was quarantined to her hotel in Jerusalem.  After several anxious days her group was able to fly to London on the 19 th  and back to America on the 20 th . Needless to say, our family was greatly relieved to welcome her home. One truly does not know what tomorrow will bring

Just a few weeks ago nobody knew who George Floyd was and then, suddenly and painfully, the world was invited into the most intimate moment of Floyds’ life – watching his death. Now Mr. Floyd is, sadly, the most famous man in our country. I was speaking to a mentor of mine last week and he asked what I thought our message to the church ought to be during this time? And I said, very honestly, I don’t know. And, quite frankly, I still don’t know. But I would like to say a few things that I know. When we don’t know what to do or say – we ought to first focus on what we know. First of all, I know that that video of George Floyd should disturb us all. No matter what the circumstance it was very sad to watch. And it ought to break our hearts. A human soul suffering should always prick the compassion of the Christian.  Secondly, I know that racism is a sin directly against God. We Christians believe that sexuality is sacred – meaning God directly gave each person their gender and