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Refreshment in Refuge

    by Gina Burgess

March 24, 2024

Servant Leader

Last week we talked about Jesus as the servant washing Peter’s feet in an act of servantship as well as cleansing and forgiveness. What of the servant as leader?

In the 1990s Robert K. Greenleaf “discovered” the truth that “a leader is best experienced first as a servant” (Spears, 2004, p. 9). Jesus exhibited this axiom better than any other leader before or since He rose from the dead. While Spears does not bring out this biblical truth, he does point out ten of Greenleaf’s ideas about the characteristics of a good servant-leader,…  ( Click for more )

March 17, 2024

Peter showed his motivational gift of Perceiver at the Passover supper when Jesus knelt to wash his feet. (John 13) For Peter, it was either all or nothing. He was so passionate about everything, and he had a sureness about Jesus that was only a little misplaced as Jesus taught him that evening.

Jesus brought the water and the drying cloth to Simon Peter who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Peter probably drew up his knees and leaned away from his beloved friend.

Jesus gazed up at Peter and replied, “You do not realize now what I am…  ( Click for more )

When Jesus told Peter that he was Petros meaning a stone in Matthew 16:18, Jesus was using a play on words that was a prophecy.

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (Petra) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (NKJV)

Too often people remember this verse and don’t recall the verse before it. 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And that comes directly after Peter…  ( Click for more )

I will watch to see what He will say to me.

What is God going to say to my questions?

I will look forth to see what He will speak with me.

I will wait and learn how He will answer my questions.

Wait to see what the Lord will tell me, what answer He will give to my complaint.

I will wait and see what the LORD will say about me and what I will answer when he reprimands me.

And God answered, “Write this down. Write what you see. Write in huge letters on a big sign so no one may miss it when they are running by it.

“The vision is about what…  ( Click for more )

February 25, 2024

Remember the words from the old song “Leaning on the everlasting arms, safe and secure from all alarms…”and think about what that actually means.

Exodus 3:5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

When the people looked into the Ark of the Covenant, 1 Samuel 6:20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?"

Psalm 35:1ff A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with…  ( Click for more )

February 18, 2024

I live in Picayune, Mississippi and we were pounded by 48 hours of rain and wind. We lost power for just a few hours but lost phone service and internet for more than 24 hours. I do ask for prayers because water is creeping up my street. Boule Creek is supposed to crest between 7 pm and 9 pm tonight (Friday). It is already 1/4 of the way up my street. If it does crest tonight, we're safe with no water in our home, but the people at the end of the street are facing about a foot of water in their homes. In the last 100 years, water has never come onto this street. There are homes not…  ( Click for more )

February 11, 2024

(An excerpt from my book)

Jesus is the physical side of God. He is the one that we can relate to so He is the one that we are betrothed to.

I am so in love with Him that I cannot fathom how deep my love is and where His love begins. I cannot fathom how His Spirit has made my soul so vibrantly alive that I am not alone for He is constantly with me. Power and Glory and Majesty is He, but more also is He. Only Jesus, only God can pour righteousness over me as fragrant oil...and through nothing that I do, it is just His love that makes me pure. He does this for…  ( Click for more )

February 4, 2024

by Rachel D. Ramer

Reproduced with permission under freeware law.

There is more to discussing evolution than debating the age of the earth or the wing breadth of the archaeopteryx. There is value, for example, in examining how evolutionists make their defense. Looking beyond the argument to the arguer's techniques can expose fallacious reasoning which keeps many from considering the God of Creation.

If Christians plan to argue from the Genesis account of creation, they must first support biblical authenticity. Although the Bible can be supported, that may be the long way…  ( Click for more )

Let me just say that Satan is truly playing havoc in my life right now. But, he does that continually so it isn't such a big surprise. Years ago, God warned me one morning at 5:39 AM that Satan would sift me. Remember when Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift him? That night before Jesus was taken by the Temple guards and Roman soldiers, Jesus told Peter, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold! Satan asked for you, to sift you as wheat…” (Luke 22:31).

If we take a look at that word sift, the same connotation appears in Amos 9:8b-9…  ( Click for more )

January 21, 2024

What is the one thing that usually gets us in trouble? James says it can light a fire. James 3:5 So also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how little a fire kindles how large a forest! I used to have a plaque that had an "Elroy-was-here" face on it. If you are too young to remember that, back during WWII, you could find this hand drawn icon in a lot of different places. It was a straight line with a huge nose draped over it and large round eyes and hands on each side of the nose gripping the fence. My plaque read, "Lord, help me to keep…  ( Click for more )

January 14, 2024

A person can cry for multiple reasons. I believe that Jesus wept because of a deep compassion for their grief. Not the professional mourners... but those who loved Lazarus. I go to funerals for the living, not for the dead. If one of my friend's has a loved one who dies, I go for that friend and lots of times, I cry because they are grieving. When we know the person who died is a Christian because of his fruit, we know he is in a better place. (I am usually very jealous that person is in heaven--at least for a few minutes anyway.) However, our hearts have an Eternity…  ( Click for more )

January 7, 2024

...not sacrifice

Matthew href="https://pro.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q=mt+12:6-8">Matthew 12:6-8 But I say to you, One greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this is, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," you would not have condemned the guiltless.

I was watching the news the other day and there was this young girl whose dad had been murdered and the reporter asked her what she was hoping for. She said she needed the murderer to be given the death penalty and even that wasn't good enough for her revenge. This wasn't the first time I've…  ( Click for more )

(Taken from the first 6 chapters of Nehemiah.)

This week will take some work on your part. I have only outlined the facts, but you will need to fill in your own blanks.

I noticed the way Nehemiah led his people, and his administrative tactics when reading Nehemiah. The first six chapters (and beyond) give excellent guidelines for Biblical leadership.

1. Get all your facts from trusted sources (Nehemiah 1). 2. First pray about the situation, and ask God’s guidance for direction. (Ibid) 3. Talk to the person who had the most authority to help with resources…  ( Click for more )

December 24, 2023

One of my professors said, "God's objective truth has become subjective truth for all of us, and none of us has excuses to deny His Truth (Romans 1)." I agree with this wholeheartedly. God has set down the Truth which is solid and indisputable. Because a person believes there is no God does not dispense with God. He remains Truth. Just as no amount of denial can remove gravity from existence, no amount of denial can dispense with God, or the eternal consequences of such denial. He is the one that made us complex beings in His image. Scientifically, Jesus was. He…  ( Click for more )

December 17, 2023

It feels like forever. The constant waiting and waiting. When, Lord? When will You go to my defense? When will You fix this problem? When will I see daylight? When will I feel normal again? When will I be able to look up from this problem and focus on others again? When will You release me from this prayer vigil? When will I find a job? a husband? a wife? When will You give us a baby? When can I stop and rest?

That's just it. We must rest or we burn out. God knows just how long we need because it was He that issued the six day work week and the one Day of Rest. Only that…  ( Click for more )

December 10, 2023

It truly takes a real man to be a great daddy. The best traits of a father, we learn from God because He is, was, and will be the first Dad.

If you haven’t seen the movie Courageous produced by the Kendrick brothers from Sherwood Films, then run and get your copy of the DVD. I found the Resolution and have been thinking about the way each of the individual resolutions come directly from the Bible and how God has exhibited them to us as our Abba Father.

THE RESOLUTION I do solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children. …  ( Click for more )

December 3, 2023

Why does He love me so?

Remember when love first blossomed?

What about now? Is it Saturday Night Fever or is it Monday Night Football? Is it The Sound of Music or The Sound of Silence? Is it $60 a dozen or $1.50 a stem including thorns? Ideal or Idle? Which of these best describes your fellowship with your First Love, our LORD Jesus?

Those questions come from one of my very favorite devotions coming to my inbox by Alan Smith of Helen Street Church of Christ in Fayetteville, North Carolina called Thought For The Day

I cannot fathom why God loved us so much He…  ( Click for more )

November 26, 2023

I laughed at this video, but without playing the video, I know I've been on the back of one of those horses, trying to live the life Christ would be proud of and still maintain respect of my peers and my boss so as not to get fired in secular corporate America. I can't tell you the number of times I fell off my horse or got scratched to ribbons. Sometimes I never had the strength to get back up in the saddle, but I found myself there nonetheless. Only God can put us back in the saddle when we're face down on the ground tasting dust and blood. I know you've been there, too. …  ( Click for more )

November 19, 2023

I have read about twenty translations of Song of Song of Solomon 8:6-7. The paraphrases do not seem to get that this verse is from the Ketubah or the Marriage Contract. I have heard at least a hundred sermons on how our relationship with Jesus is as a betrothal between the groom and the bride, but I haven't heard much at all on the contents of the marriage contract, or the Ketubah. It comes from the Mishna.

It’s fascinating, in a word.

The original purpose of the ketubah was to protect the wife and children in case something ever happened to the husband and papa.…  ( Click for more )

When I heard our celebrity president’s approval of same sex marriage, that theme song from Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice kept running through my head. I connected the dots immediately. Then I read the article about how much more money was pouring into his campaign coffers and that song started up full-amped in my head. I had to look up the lyrics to it even though I watch that show every Sunday evening because I love to watch small group dynamics at work. Reality shows are not real. I get that. But, that isn’t today’s discussion. What is it between the…  ( Click for more )

November 5, 2023

The sun is warm on my face and it feels good to these old bones of mine. I listen, but the house is still. It is only me and Hara now. The children have homes and children of their own and my sweet husband has gone to rest in Abraham’s bosom. That other is gone, too, God bless her. Why Hara stays and takes care of this old woman, I do not know. God’s blessing for sure, but why a young woman would care for an old woman when she should be caring for a husband is beyond the reach of my mind.

“Enjoying the sun, my dear ‘Em? Here,…  ( Click for more )

October 29, 2023

Pain lanced through my back like a spear. Not that I had ever been lanced before, but I have seen it. I saw the look of surprise and then the anguish of pain on the man’s face; it was not pleasant. I have been hit in the lower back before and that was most excruciating. It was a bar brawl. I was waiting tables and serving the drunks because by then there wasn’t a sober mind in the place. But, the pain of that elbow jab into my back must have been the cousin to what it feels like to be speared.

This pain was much worse. There were numerous spears within shouting…  ( Click for more )

October 22, 2023
If God Should Speak By Joyce Faye Russell

New Labor Forum No. 9 (Fall - Winter, 2001), pp. 146-148

"Our Father which art in heaven....."

---Yes?

Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.

---But you called me.

Called you? I didn't call you. I'm praying. "Our Father which art in heaven....."

---There you did it again.

Did What?

---Called me. You said, "Our Father which art in heaven." Here I am.....What's on your mind?

But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day.…  ( Click for more )

That is The Message’s interpretation of Paul’s admonition to Timothy in the second letter to him in 2 Timothy 3:4. Paul is talking about the future when mankind’s love will grow cold, and when the perverseness and self-absorption of people becomes prevalent. Peter is just as adamant when talking about Lot’s being “surrounded by moral rot day after day” (2 Peter 2:8) when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Proof positive this is and has been an age old problem. I am greatly heartened to hear there is still shock and some revulsion…  ( Click for more )

October 8, 2023

A journalist from a small town must go to the big city to cover a story but isn’t familiar with the city at all. The spouse calls a friend to pull guide duty in that city. When the journalist and the guide met, sparks flew. No touching, no hand holding, just looking deeply into one another’s eyes and lots of meals together. It was like a high school romance. Is that cheating?

A woman is thinking about going to her thirty year high school reunion and by chance reconnects with her high school flame. She knows he’s married, he knows she’s married, but they…  ( Click for more )

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