Mental Musings

A certain Levite named Joseph was known as an encourager. So much so that the apostles gave him the name Barnabas which means the son of encouragement (Acts 4:36). I guess that renaming people in the Bible can be similar to giving nicknames to others. And Barnabas certainly seemed to live up to his nickname as far as the accounts of him in scripture. Our world is in need of people with the spiritual gift of encouragement yet it is often difficult to find those people in our churches. Christians, especially in America, have become so steeped into the belief that we all have democratic rights given to us by God, that we often hear more complaints in our churches than we do encouraging words. No wonder so many people complain about everything about their church...it is "their" church. I would think we would have a much more difficult time complaining if we all quit attending our own church and started attending God's church. God designed our churches with a specific struc

by Steve Poole Meter: 7.7.7.7. with refrain Tune originally used: TRUSTING JESUS All we have we give to God: Fish and Bread or wooden rod. Without Him our lives grow dim. That is why we rest in Him. When the world caves in on you, Let them know His word is True. Never let the candle dim. Let your life show rest in Him. God the Father, Christ the Son, Holy Spirit, Three in One. Never let the image dim. Live for God and rest in Him. REFRAIN: Simply let Him help you rest. Put your faith and trust to test. Listen to these words we say: “Give your life to Him today.”

It has been almost a month since anything new has been posted to my blog. But there is a good reason...I haven't written anything. Amazing how you have to write something to actually blog. Sometimes when I look at the number of page views on my blog I wonder if I am only writing for the sake of writing. But every once in a while I hear from somebody (typically through facebook) that read my blog and enjoyed something about it. So, I thought I would share a devotional that I never used. Psalm 15 A psalm of David. 1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? 2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart 3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, In the Christian Ethics class at seminary, future pastors were often asked how they would handle this situation: A search committee calls to get a re