STEADY GROUND MINISTRY

 

“A Table for Two”

 

Written Mar 29 26

 

I always get inspiration for another Win the Day blog article, from the local pastor at my church.   His sermons get me thinking about what my next blog article should be about.

 

In today’s sermon, while he preached about Palm Sunday and how the people treated Jesus—as an EARTHLY king they wanted to get them out of the oppression they were living under by the Romans—He came to be their SPIRITUAL king.   These were 2 vastly different views of his entry into Jerusalem.

 

My pastor gave us some sermon points backed up by Scripture I’d like to share:

 

1.   God visits people with PURPOSE.

Luke 19:44 says:  “….you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”  

 

And, clear back in Exodus chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, the Lord said:  “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their crying out, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians.”    While it was a different group doing the oppressing, He still wanted to take care of His people.

 

Our pastor also shared:  “Opportunities god gives you have an expiration date.”

 

2.   You can be close to Jesus and still miss Him.

John 12:13 says:  “In the last days, God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people.   Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’” 

 

Matthew 15:18 says:  “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

 

They were basically "checking the boxes."

 

3.   Spiritual moments require spiritual discernment.

Luke 19:42 says:  “……you did not know what would bring you peace…..”

 

Proximity does not necessarily reflect perception.

I Corinthians 2:14 says:  “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only thru the Spirit.”

 

4.   Missed moments have real consequences.

Luke 19:43-44 says:  “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment…and they will dash you to the ground….”

 

According to my pastor, here’s a sobering reality:

 

a) Missed spiritual moments are not neutral

b) Delayed obedience is not harmless

c) Ignoring god has consequences

Hebrews 3:15 says:  “As has just been said:   ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.’”

 

5. This is your day of visitation.  

James 4:8 says:  Come near to God and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Revelation 3:20 says:  “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door.  I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

 

Jesus wants a table for 2—YOU and HIM, to bless your Life!

 

Have a STEADY GROUND TODAY with Christ!

 

STEADY GROUND MINISTRY BLOG

Written Mar 22 26

The Water, Then and Now

 

At the church I attend, today’s sermon focused on the water—what it meant for those living in the Old and New Testaments, and what it means for us today.

The sermon had parallel messages:   What the water meant for LIVING at that time, and what the spiritual water meant for them and us today.

In John 7:37-38, the writer shared:   “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice:  ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.   Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ NIV.

Jesus talked about being the LIVING water that from which you’ll never thirst.  We should become the spring of LIVING water to others.  That’s what God calls us to do in our own lives—drink from His Spiritual Well—then share that LIVING water to others.

Our pastor told us that the goal of spiritual life is not just to receive LIVING water, but to come a conduit for it.

He added that Jesus moves the well from a place to a person, saying in John 4:14:  “The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

We can take His Spirit wherever we go—thank God!

Our pastor also shared that the Spirit reveals our responsibility.   As he said, “You gotta give it away!”  He then quoted John 7:38, which says:  “Whoever believes in ime, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Our pastor then said that we were created to be a channel, not just a container.  Don’t live for “just enough faith” when you can have an “overflowing” faith!

2 Corinthians 9:8 says:  “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

We were not called to “survive” but to “thrive” by drinking His living, spiritual water every day!

From Proverbs 11:25:  “…whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

Make sure you’re drinking from that LIVING water of Jesus’ love in your own life, then SHARE that water with others every day!   

That’s another way we can have a STEADY GROUND TODAY with Christ!

STEADY GROUND MINISTRY

 

Written Mar 3, 2026

 

We Really Do Need Each Other

 

In a Fox News opinion piece from Russ Ewell published on-line March 1, he titles his article “I’ve been a pastor for 40 years. Young men are struggling and I think I know why:    One in four American young men report loneliness as community institutions collapse.”   In the article, Ewell states suicide rates among young men are rising.  He believes the causes are, quoting the article:

 

1. “The major paths to community, life advancement, and social and personal intelligibility have all more or less disintegrated in the past few decades. That disintegration was accelerated dramatically, even completed, by the pandemic.

2. “Which means that men aren’t getting the formation they desperately need to become good men — and that they have historically received.

3. “Their educational attainment and motivation continue to fall further and further behind those of their female peers. They’re also worryingly prone to political and religious radicalization.”

So, what are some possible solutions?  Again quoting Ewell:

1. “Men need loving, mature, stable relationships with people who care about them and can guide them well. They need mentors, friends, managers, coaches, colleagues, teachers, professors and neighbors who will help guide them into flourishing masculinity. They need all of us to remain explicitly and charitably committed to supporting their formation.”

2. “The local organizations that used to so richly populate our lives asked something of us — responsibilities, expectations, standards — and in doing so, helped us all grow, individually and together. We had labor unions, civic societies, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, a rich school club culture. Churches were active and socially dynamic.”  

 

“While almost all of these institutions are a faint shadow of what they once were, this remains unchanged: Formation requires real people, real sacrifice, and real community — and young men will not flourish without it.”

 

“If we want good young men — and we should — then we must stop outsourcing their formation to screens and self-direction, and once again take responsibility for shaping them with our presence, our intention and our lives.”

 

In other words, as Rueben Welch’s book title says, “We Really Do Need Each Other”, no matter WHAT the age of a person, man or woman.  

 

In a recent sermon at the church I attend, my pastor’s message was entitled “Hello My Name is Encourager.”   He cited how Barnabas, Paul’s assistant in the New Testament, was sent by God to come alongside other disciples to win more people to Him.  Pastor cited these verses to backup this principle in the New Testament:

 

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”  I Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

 

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your months, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”  Ephesians 4:29 ESV

 

My pastor also said NOT to take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advise from, adding that ENCOURAGEMENT is CONTAGIOUS!

 

Today, as you have a STEADY GROUND with Christ, why not follow Barnaba’s lead and ENCOURAGE others, showing His Love to everyone you come in contact with today.  You’ll be following His Command to “love one another.”   Sounds like a pretty good way to start any day!