Pastor Jim Shields
Sanctuary Ministries

John 13:34-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Living the Christian life is so simple. I walk in His mercy, it is new for me every morning. Every time I mess up (which is often, more often than you or I know) His unmerited favor falls from Heaven to find me. And peace, not temporary like the world gives, but a deep fundamental sense of His well being has been gifted me.

Yep, it is simple, tithe, show up at church, read the Bible, pray.

Continue Reading…

Pastor Terry Reilly
Creekside Open Bible Church

Luke 22:44-45 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.

The job is a hassle.  The kids aren’t “kidding right.”  Marriage is on a downward trajectory.  And financially, there is economic stress all around.  Life can be exhausting…no wonder that for so many, sleep is such a wonderful escape hatch. Exit stage right to a nice “garden spot” and find a Posturepedic mattress and pillow.  We even have a Bible verse for it right here!  Oh, I guess that isn’t the encouragement.  Jesus’ A-team experienced some emotional and physical times that taxed them to the max.  The disciples, while not insensitive to their Savior’s suffering, didn’t sense the seriousness of the mission so they slumbered. Funny thing, gracious and gentle Jesus asks them why they were sleeping and then challenges them again to pray.

Continue Reading…

Pastor Jeff Reed
Hillside Covenant Church

Luke 22:19-20 Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you–an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.

Jesus had broken bread in miraculous fashion before.  Once He broke five loaves and fed five thousand men (Mark 6:38-44).  Later He broke seven loaves into food for four thousand people (Mark 8:5-9). Jesus had also ‘poured’ wine in miraculous fashion before.  At a wedding in Cana He turned six 30-gallon purification jars filled with water into the best wine the maitre’ d had ever tasted.

Continue Reading…