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My door is open, and all are welcome. My Door is Open from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. This is the message for Father's Day, 2016.06.19. My door is open, and all are welcome. Here is the message outline: God created mankind for fellowship. In the beginning, God would come down and walk with Adam in the garden of Eden during the cool of the day. Then one day God came down and...

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22 WEBIt is easy to become used to positions, titles, and levels in the workplace during life and carry that over into the church. After a while, we can become like the pharisee that stood on the corner and thanked God that...

Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me. Many there are who say of my soul, 'There is no help for him in God.' Selah. But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. Psalms 3:1 WEBDavid wrote these words while fleeing from his own son, Absalom, who plotted to kill David and become king in his place. Almost everyone that David...

Ecclesiastes 7:1: A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. Matthew 26:12-13: When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. Many people say that the woman who poured out the perfume...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. We are about to go into wedding season, and...

Isaiah 55:8:"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. We can get bogged down in our thinking sometimes. We are inundated with impressions daily. Don't know what I mean? Look online and you will see thousands of subliminal messages about products, services, and prescription drugs. Turn on a TV and you get the same thing, more brand reinforcement. Not...

1 Samuel 17:42-44: He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Come here, he said, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field! The whole battle doesn't happen at all unless Goliath stands up and said:...

to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3 WEBHave you ever felt so down, so lethargic, that you begin to ask yourself, 'What is the point of it all?' There are many things in this...

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:6 I’ve been on this incredible learning Journey… Changing my negatives to positives, counting my burdens as blessings, seeking God’s goodness and love… Would you like to know what I have found? When you Ask; it is Given > When you Seek; it is Found >When you Search; it is Discovered.    I...

Psalm 130:3: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? Hebrews 8:12: For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Psalm 129:3: Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. None of us in this world can boast about how good we are. Nobody can walk around...

Psalm 40:6- Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced *(additional notation), burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, Here I am, I have come--it is written about me in the scroll. Luke 24:44-He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the...

Proverbs 31: 4-7: It is not for kings, O Lemuel--not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. This is not a devotional about the evils of drinking...

“Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.” 1 Kings 18:20       When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have to truly Trust him in all the decisions in our lives because he doesn’t just want part of...

Genesis 20:11- Abraham replied, "I said to myself, there is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, this is how you can show your love to me. Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is...

Philippians 2:1-4 2 Corinthians 3:12-14 Humility or boldness which is better? Running on the road is a balance of beating down the flesh which says, you can’t do this, you should just give up, and concentrating on the power of Christ in us. I run on the road and I face oncoming traffic. As I am running, I feel this other conflict deep inside and one that says, "be humble and get out of...

Mark 11:23-24-Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. So we read this scripture and wonder, why don't we look at things and tell them to do what we want them to do more often? You would think that we would be telling cancer to leave bodies, and...

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10: 13       There have been many times in my life I have been tempted in a variety of ways. Some I will admit I resisted...

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t...

Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.' When he had come, immediately he came to him, and said, 'Rabbi! Rabbi!' and kissed him. They laid their hands on him, and seized him. Mark 14:44 WEBIt was now dark. Jesus and the disciples had finished their last supper, sang a hymn together, and then went to pray in the Garden...

And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10 KJVJob went through a terrible time in his life where he lost everything. As he sat in a pile of ashes with sores covering his body, his friends told him that it was the sinful life that he had lived that had caused all of this to happen. Actually, Job had lived...

Acts 28:6- The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. Mark 16:18- they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well." Do you know what venom...

 Proverbs 19:17: He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done. Whenever we give to others there is an intersection of abundance and lack. None of us are rich in all things, but we are poor in some way in the face of someone like us who has more of that which we lack. When we give freely to others, this proverb says that we are lending to the...

Proverbs 16:3: Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. When I was a kid, my Mom signed me up for little league. I was short, chubby, slow, and didn’t understand why if the baseball went past me while I was batting, that it may or may not be called a strike. I thought that I had to swing and miss in order for it to be a strike. I learned quickly.  I...

Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. Psalm 33:2 WEBWhen I ran my fingers across the strings, I knew instantly that this was the most beautiful sounding thing that I had ever picked up and that I had to have one. It was a twelve string acoustic guitar, a deep red sun-burst, and it was in perfect tune. I am not much of a guitar player, but even strumming...

Romans 11:5,6: So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.  And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Ephesians 2:4-9: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with...

Job 3:25-26: What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil. Philippians 4:6-7: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There...

Matthew 3:15- Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. Revelation 22:20- He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 1:8). It is important for us see these two scriptures and know that what has happened for us all from the beginning to the end. This is how our...

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1Pet. 4:12 ESVI have a testimony that I share sometimes where the Lord gave me a horrible job in a plant polishing brass and sweeping the floor. Within...

Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Gen. 39:20 WEBJoseph was his father's favorite son and though he had done nothing wrong, he was sold into slavery by his older brothers, who were jealous....

Then David gave to Solomon his son the plans for the porch of the temple, for its houses, for its treasuries, for its upper rooms, for its inner rooms, for the place of the mercy seat; and the plans of all that he had by the Spirit, 1 Chronicles 28:11 WEBDavid gave Solomon all the plans for the new temple that he was to build, but all of those plans were originally given to David by the Holy Spirit....