Month: June 2025

 Everyone Needs A Father

 Everyone Needs A Father

“A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”
Psalm 68:5 KJV 

There are times when everyone feels vulnerable and weak.  It is during those times that we long for someone we can go to for help; someone who we can lean upon; someone who will give us wisdom about what to do in difficult situations; someone who will teach us and guide us;  someone who will lovingly correct us;  someone who will come to our defense when needed;   someone who we can rely on and trust;  someone who will encourage us; and someone who will love us and accept us no matter what.   That is the role  God designed for fathers.

Sadly, many of us either did not have a father or the father we did have failed to fulfill their role and calling in our lives.  The truth is that there are times when even the best fathers fail and disappoint their children and families in some way.  That is because all fathers are imperfect and have feet of clay.

Those who had a good father feel a great sense of loss when their father dies.   They feel somewhat adrift.   Those who never had a father, or those who had a bad father, have a sense of longing inside for the father they never had.   To fill that longing and that need in our lives, the Living God, the Holy One Himself has promised to be the  “father to the fatherless”.  He is the perfect father.  He is always with us, and He knows exactly what we need in each situation.  He is the One who promises never to leave us. He is the One who fills the emptiness and longing in our souls. 

Through Christ, He brought each of us, who has received Him as their Savior, into His eternal family.  All of His strength, wisdom, guidance,  and heavenly resources are available to us. 

In Christ, no one is an orphan!  No one is abandoned!  He is a Father to all who will receive Him!  So, let us embrace our Heavenly Father,  for He is longing to embrace us!  He promises to be for us the father that we have always wanted!   

Rev. James W. Black

The Difference Between Religion And Christ

The Difference Between Religion And Christ

“Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!  For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.  (28) Even some also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” 

Matthew 23:27-28 KJV

Jesus lived by the truth revealed in the Word of God, regularly attended Synagogue, on the Sabbath, observed  the Jewish Feasts and taught and worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus did these things not because He was religious, but because He loved the Father and He loved the Word of God.  His words and deeds were born out of His relationship with the Father and His understanding of the  Power contained in the Word of God!

Because He loved the Father, He also loved the Word  of God. Everything He did was based upon His relationship with the Father.   He spoke with power and authority. His words were kind, loving, compassionate,  strong  and full of hope. His words  brought  comfort, revelation,  understanding and joy to those who really wanted to know the truth about God!  And all of that was accompanied by mighty works of God expressed in undeniable miracles that revealed God’s glory!  Although Jesus said and did all these marvelous things, He was not religious!  In fact, He reserved His harshest words for those who substituted religious form and ritual for a genuine, living  fellowship with God the Father.  (Matthew 23).

Jesus did not mince words when it came to addressing religion.  His most scathing words of rebuke were leveled at those who were rigidly religious  in their actions, but were empty of life!  Jesus declared that although they looked good on the outside, in reality they were dead on the inside.   In other words, they had no life!   Jesus addressed them openly and publicly, pointing out to them the difference between religion and a genuine relationship with God.     It can be summed up in one word.  Life. Religion brings death.  Jesus brings life!   It does not get any simpler than that. 

Rev. James W. Black