General William Booth’s last words were “Others”.
Give this podcast a listen today “Others” Podcast
May we be continually challenged by the Holy Spirit to serve others and share the good news of Salvation with them where ever we go!
Dear Salvationists, dear fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ…
let me ask you two questions –
Is there a cost to discipleship?
Are we called to make sacrifices?
The answer to both of these questions is “Yes”.
Check out our latest “Ponder Cast” – #9 “Setting Our Sights”
Please share our Ponder Casts, and also please subscribe!
Our Scripture Focus today is:
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the [a]air have [b]nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
A new Ponder Cast is up entitled (here is the hyperlink) “Getting Over It” check it out!
Do you still harbor anger and bitterness towards someone?
Have you ever been hurt by people and you have struggled to forgive let alone let go?
Jesus asks us to forgive our enemies.
Could it be that in our forgiving others we release the burdens and the baggage in our own lives that we have held onto for far too long? I believe that forgiveness is the start of living again. It is when we do not harbor the ugly bitterness and rage that God can begin to fill us once again with something beautiful. Are you prepared to get over it?
Dear Salvationists this applies for all of us today!
We cannot be a functioning Army for the Lord while holding grudges and struggling with unforgiveness in our hearts. We must seek reconciliation, we have to get over it so that we can move on!
Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.“
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Dear Bitterness (a poem)
I’ve journeyed with you too long my friend
You have eaten too much of my soul
With great energy I labored on
and you were always a burden on me.
I’ve journey with your icy stare
your knives as sharp as razor blades
I never knew how deep they cut
Nor how long I’ve harbored this rage
I’ve journeyed with your heavy weight
that forced me ever to my knees
I’ve feasted on your bitter roots
my sanguine meal both night and day.
But I’m finally ready.
I’m ready to let this go.
I’m ready to say goodbye
I don’t need you anymore
I’ve clutched too tightly onto this
it has killed my soul
It has poisoned my heart
It has held me back for far too long…
Dear bitterness…you don’t own me anymore
I am no longer your prisoner
I am no longer your whipping boy
And so I say farewell
I choose to forgive
I choose grace
I choose to be free.
Something more to ponder today!
Please subscribe to our ponder cast, and share it with your friends!
God Bless you today!
Dear Salvationists and Friends,
Sometimes we say phrases that perhaps just roll of the tongue.
Sometimes there isn’t much meaning behind them.
It’s more of a cordial welcome phrase “hello how are you” and we never expect much back from the recipient other than “I am fine, thanks!”
Have we ever truly thought about the phrases that we say…I mean really?
Is the phrase – “Everything happens for a reason” really true in all aspects of life?
I recently wrote about this phrase and three others that you can read here: Christian Phrases That We Should Stop Saying
It was also recently featured on Salvationist.ca
Give this Ponder Cast #7 Click here a listen, please subscribe and share it with your friends!
To God be the glory!
Welcome back to Pastorsponderings.org, please check out our latest Ponder Cast #6 “Judgement Call”. To listen, please click on the link here:
“Judgement Call” Podcast Link
Please subscribe, share and tune in often as we post new content almost daily!
Last week we jumped from like 3,000th place in the “Spiritual/Religion” category on our podcast host site to 94th…that’s just crazy! Thanks for listening and supporting the Ponder Cast!
A new “ponder cast” is up, click on this link to listen, download, subscribe and share:
Ponder Cast #5 “Moving Into The Unknown”
Here is “Ponder Cast #4”, click on the link below to listen, subscribe, download and share!
Blessings on you today!
Click Here: http://scottstrissel.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-04T09_51_33-07_00
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:15,16)
Please click on the link below to listen and download our latest “Ponder Cast” – #3 “Diligence and Perseverance”.
Also please share, and subscribe! Thanks!
Podcast Link:
http://scottstrissel.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-30T10_51_44-07_00
Check out our new audio series “Ponder Cast”!
Today’s focus is on the word “Listen”.
Click on the pondercast link below to hear today’s edition.
http://scottstrissel.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-28T09_49_40-07_00
Something more to ponder today!
We are adding a new addition to Pastorsponderings, podcasts!
Today, we’re going to add our first podcast offering – “Pressing on or drop it like it’s hot”.
Click on the link below to listen to today’s podcast –
http://scottstrissel.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-22T09_49_30-07_00
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 3:7-14
Questions to consider:
Do we do that in our service to others?
Do we do that in our service to God?
Do we go through the motions, but inside it’s just real work without passion?
Do we sometimes struggle with this commission God has given to us?
Prayer:
Dear Lord, help me to serve you with everything that I’ve got!
I don’t want to grudgingly serve you.
I don’t want to throw my services on the floor because I have to.
I want to serve you because I love you.
I want to serve others because of your love!
Teach me.
Fill me.
Renew me.
Give me your eyes for those around me.
Help me see where your love abounds and where I must go to share that love with others today.
In your name I pray.
-Amen.
Pastor's Ponderings 