Pastor Bob's Wednesday Devotion: "Miracles"

Good morning Church!

How are "the called out ones" doing?

After spending some time in Luke 8 this morning, I came away with the reminder that we serve a great and mighty God! Check it out:

Jesus calms the storm for His fearful disciples.

Jesus casts demons out of the man from Gerasenes.

Jesus heals the hemorrhaging woman.

Jesus raises Jairus' daughter from the dead.

Jesus did all this in one day! Oh what a mighty God we serve!

These miracles occurred a long time ago, but I was again reminded that God's Word says in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Which leads me to ask:

What storms are you facing today?

What demons are bugging you today?

What kind of healing do you need today?

What family members of yours need the truth of Jesus today?

Take a few minutes now and thank God that He has not changed and that He is able to do miracles just like He did in Luke 8. Then ask Him to perform a miracle according to His will for your life today.

Let me know how you are doing and how I can pray for you.

Pastor Robbie's Wednesday Devotion: Lessons from Kids

Good morning WVBC! I hope your week is going well.

The last few weeks, we've been talking about the question "What is the church?"

Today my daughter showed me a great answer to that question.

It started as I was about to leave for the office, and Jubilee came and sat on my lap. She noticed that I have a fever blister, and she asked me if she could pray for my "owie." I told her she could, and she prayed the sweetest little prayer.

Her prayer made me think, why don't I ask people more often how I can pray for them? Am I in such a hurry that I don't even notice other peoples "owies"?

Matthew 18: 2-4 says,

"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"

The great thing about kids is that they see everything, and they're not afraid to ask about it. Jubilee, in her innocent way, showed me that she cared about my owie and she knew that Jesus cares too.

As the church, we should be doing the same thing for each other.

So today I'm asking you, what is your owie?

Pastor Bob's Wednesday Devotion: "The Blessing"

Have you received "The Blessing"?

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, Mark records that a voice came out of the heavens:

"You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

Mark 1:11

God the Father let God the Son know that He had His blessing.

Last Sunday we did not hear a voice from heaven, but we did witness 7 believers being baptized in "God's pool."

Oceanside is a lot different from the Jordan River, but you can bet that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit up above were smiling and saying to each other, "We love those 7 children, and we are well-pleased with them."

If you have received & proclaimed Christ as your Savior, you are one of God's children, and He has given The Blessing to you too. The Heavenly Father loves you and is well-pleased with you!

Have you shared "The Blessing"?

Just as God the Father spoke His approval for His Son from heaven, fathers & mothers need to verbalize their approval to their kids.

They need to hear from us that we love them and we are well-pleased with them.

My challenge to you is to follow the example of how our Heavenly Father blessed His Son...pass "The Blessing" on to your kids.

Let me know how enjoying "The Blessing" changes your week and how sharing it with your children changes theirs.

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

2 Corinthians 5:21

Pastor Robbie's Wednesday Devotion: Step Back

Good morning WVBC,

As many of you know, I just came back from a sweet time with my kids on our Dads Backpacking Trip. And once again, it was a special time just hanging out with my girls. (Yes, I did take Jub's this year--it's amazing what those little green eyes can make me say yes to!)

The passage we looked at during our "church in the woods" was Joshua chapter 3. (Read it here if you get a chance; it's only 15 verses or so).

This passage is filled with so many great truths--God is the God of the living, and He wants us to show us amazing things, to name a few. But one of the things that really spoke to me was how God wanted the people to get back and watch.

"When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."

Joshua 3:3-4

It wasn't that God didn't want His people close. It's that He wanted them to see who He was. To see His power. To be reminded of His grace.

So often my life is filled with places I have never been and situations I never saw coming, and more often than not, I find myself running amiss. I forget to stop and listen to what He has to say or to be still long enough to watch Him move.

If that's you this week, STOP and take a STEP BACK. See what the Lord is really doing. Listen to the word He wants to give you to direct or comfort you.

If you do, you just mind find that you'll be able to see Him a little more clearly.

Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."

Mark 1:17

I don't know about you, but I was raised as a kid to be a leader and not a follower. It was drilled into my head that followers are "losers" and leaders are "winners." So to be the teacher's "pet" and line leader in school, you had to sit up straight, not talk in class, and always be the first to raise your hand. Needless to say, that wasn't me.

In the sixties, during my teen years, I learned to be a non-conformist. Long hair. Long beard. Raggedy clothes. Being a leader in the hippie generation meant doing your own thing.

Then in 1969, Jesus chose me to follow Him.

Forty years later, I'm still learning what it means to follow Jesus. After walking with Jesus for all this years, the truth rings out loud and clear that following Jesus requires that I allow Him to make me a "fisher of men" and not of trout!

His promise to make us become His witnesses calls for total surrender to be His hands, His feet, and His mouth to those people in our lives that need Jesus.

Will you make a commitment to follow Him today?

Expect a divine appointment with someone who needs you to lead them to the One who is the way, and the truth and the life.

P.S. Let me know how God used you today with your divine appointment. I'll be praying for you...

Pastor Robbie's Wednesday Devotion: "Encourage One Another"

"But let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Hebrews 10:25

Everyone needs a little encouragement, and I hope this blog has been an encouragement to you the last few months.

Today, you have a chance to encourage each other!

Post a comment in the comments section and share what God is doing in your life. You never know who might need to hear the encouragement He's been giving you.

"Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me."

Psalm 66:16

Pastor Bob's Wednesday Devotion: "Be Still"

"Be still and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10

Last week, I used a week of vacation time, and wouldn't you know that I spent most of the week being sick!

This vacation was going to be a "working vacation," which means a busy vacation, and I had a mile-long list of "to do's" around the house. Could it be that busyness was the cause of my sickness?

This morning I was reading in Matthew 20 about Jesus, who after 3 years of demanding ministry, was on His way to Calvary. As Jesus was leaving the city of Jericho with a large crowd following Him, two blind men on the side of the road heard that Jesus was passing by. They cried out, "Lord have mercy on us, Son of David!"

The crowd told the men to be quiet, thinking that Jesus was way too busy to stop and care for two blind beggars.

Do we ever feel our Lord is too busy to help us? Or are we too busy to take the time to be still and know that He is God?

You know what Jesus did.

He stopped and asked the two beggars, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Today, Jesus is asking that same question to you. Will you be still long enough to let our Lord Jesus tend to your needs?

You may not be blind, but you need His touch to cure your busyness!