Thoughts for Today

There are some things in life that is so hard to figure out. One of those things is why people turn their backs on Jesus after all that He does for folks that trust in him. In the book of John, Jesus just finished the miracle of feeding the 5000 with a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread. Jesus was at the apex of his popularity and made the following statement to the multitude that was now following him. 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. Now what happened after that is what is totally baffling! Look at John 6:66 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. WHY? That is what I intend to answer. To find that answer, we need to look at the rest of the chapter and find out what kind of people TURNED BACK and no longer followed him. The Word gives us some answers:

Wow! It was exciting to preach on Sunday at United. Sunday is by far my favorite day of the week. The sermon series started off well, however, we were a little down in attendance because of the cold weather and sickness among some of our folks. I am thankful that this has been the BEST winter yet as far as church growth and discipleship is concerned. Many new people are committing not only to the church but also to ministry!! John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. If you look closely at the above picture you will see exactly what Jesus is speaking about. In Israel, there were two kinds of sheepfolds: 1. There

Yesterday was a great day to preach for me! I was sick on Saturday after eating some bad chicken from a fast food gas station...yeah, I know, I should have asked for the hot dogs! Anyway, the anointing of God was tremendous and I feel what He wanted accomplished was accomplished. We finished the sermon series called "These Last Days." The topic was HEAVEN from Revelation 21: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne

We all need and desire encouragement. We all feel the discouragement from many sources in the course of one week. I was encouraged yesterday by many people. Some complimented the message, some complimented a story that was told. I never get any compliments about my hair style...go figure! I want to thank each of your for your encouragement upon me! I feel blessed each week to minister here at United. I need to say that after yesterday's sermon, I received several interesting pieces of feedback. Some of the questions came from Barnabas selling his property to help the poor and needy in society. Some came from asking about the Last Days. I enjoy talking about the topic of the day and helping others to think outside the box. VARIOUS QUOTES: " Write your criticisms in dust, your compliments in marble." “ Once I did bad and that I heard forever; Twice I did good, but that I heard never.” The scripture reading this week was found in two place