Mar 15, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Jesus had a knack for silencing His critics. Like when the Saducees tried to trip Him up about the resurrection of the dead, He simply told them, “You are mistaken not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God … God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” The key there is the power of God. His awesomeness, His majesty, His power, how can finite minds begin to understand! He hung the stars in place, created a myriad of living creatures, He created you, of course He can resurrect the dead and give them new spiritual bodies! Heaven is going to be great, but as my earthly body is quickly decaying, that spiritual body may be one of the high points. Just as we cannot fully grasp the awesomeness of God, neither can we totally understand the glory of Heaven. Can you image a place where everyone actually gets along and where there are no politicians or personal agendas? So, don’t be sad you see, because nothing is impossible for God. If He promised it, it will happen. Keep trusting in the Lord and get ready to dance on streets of gold with knees that really work!
Mar 8, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Having a strong work ethic is an admirable trait, one the younger generation is sorely lacking. Hard work has its many rewards, but there is one thing hard work cannot get you and that’s into heaven, a concept very hard for some people and many religions to grasp. Jesus did what no amount of human works could ever do. As Ephesians 2:8,9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” You can’t dazzle God with charitable deeds, large donations, or humanitarian acts but by accepting His Son, He is totally impressed. Now, after accepting His grace, is when you want to get to work. As Jesus told His disciples, “I did not come to be served, but to serve …”, and so should we. We all have different gifts, we all have different ways to serve. We all aren’t meant to be doing the same thing, but each to be working in their gifted area. Now, we already have got the goodies, forgiveness and an eternal heavenly home, but we will also receive rewards for what we do in the body. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” So keep up the work ethic, serving out of gratefulness for what He has done for you. A word to the wise from 1 Corinthians 3:13-15. Our works will be tested by fire, our good works will endure and we will be rewarded for them but our bad works will be burned up. Another reason to keep on doing those good works because I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to make an ash out of myself before the Lord!
Mar 1, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to love people than to like them? I mean c’mon, people are nasty, annoying, pushy, greedy, egotisitcal. So, if people are that bad why should we love them? Because He first loved us! I’ll never understand until the Lord brings me home and tells me why He loves us, but He does and I am humbly and gratefully thankful. Thus, we should be compelled by His love to reach out to all those nasty, annoying people. (especially seeing we are one of them) We should even be able to love our enemies and those that curse us because we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. We can share love because we are secure in knowing that nothing in this world can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus our Lord. How can we not be obedient to the One who created us, died for us, and made us an eternal home with Him? He has shown His love time and time again to uruly, stiff necked people. He has shown us how much He cares. If we want to win the world, it won’t be by preaching gloom and doom, but by showing the world how much we care! It isn’t easy, the hypocrisy and perversion of truth in the world does get one riled up, but think how God feels! Yet He still loves! Individually we may not change the world, but together we can show the world love, and remember, love changes things, love changes everything!
Feb 23, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
Love changes things. It can warm a frozen heart. It can mend a torn relationship. It can lift a soul out of the pit of despair. It can change things. Love changes others, but loving others can change us. Soon after I accepted Jesus, circumstances led me to take a job as an orderly in a level one nursing home, something totally foriegn to my nature. After getting through the first day without running out the back door screaming, I truly started loving in a way I never knew. In a week, I found myself walking home singing, so happy from giving love in a special way. Love changes things, love changes us! Loving one another is a commandment that definitely should be followed in the church and Ephesians 5:19-21 is a good example of a Spirit filled church, yet a tough thing for many people to do is verse 21, “submitting to one another … ” Submitting doesn’t mean being a doormat but out of reverence for God and love for one another, we are to be thinking of the interests of others before our own. Love changes the church! Nobody is perfect, we all get our backs up now and then, and tempers may flair. We’re human, it happens, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to stop lovng! It calls on it all the more. As Paul instucts in Ephesians 4:26,27, “don’t let the sun go down on your anger!” Very wise councel that should be followed in all situations. Love restores relationships! So, go out tomorrow, go out the rest of your life, full of confidence, because you are undeservedly, unconditionally, loved by God, and graciously show His love to others and watch as love changes things!
Feb 15, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
By: Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, the day the world celebrates “twoo wuve,” but how many people really understand what love is? 1 Cornthians 13 puts love into perspective and clearly defines it. Love is patient and kind. Love doesn’t envy or boast. Love isn’t rude, self seeking, and doesn’t think evil. Love doesn’t rejoice over another’s failings, it rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes and hopes for the best in all things, love endures all things. When you tell someone you love them, is this what you’re saying? Is this how you act toward them? It is estimated more than 100 million love songs have been recorded! Think they all were using the same definition of love as the Apostle Paul? Jackie DeShannon was right on when she sang, “What the world needs now, is love, sweet love.” That’s what the world has always needed. That’s what the world desperately needs now! Jesus showed the world the greatest love a man can when He laid down His life for us. We won’t necessarily be called to do that but we are called to show each other, the world, 1 Corinthians 13 love. If Christians aren’t setting the example, the world will never know “love, sweet love!” Love is not a word that should be thrown around lightly, but we are able to love because He first loved us!
Feb 8, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
Author: Tim Irving
Healthy ciritism isn’t a bad thing. It can be helpful to correct flaws we may not be aware of and help us to improve ourselves but a critical, judgemental spitirit is! The world has been permeated by a harsh, critical, hypocritical spirit. It has become full of people with planks in their eyes trying to remove specks from other people’s eyes. That is the way of the world and not the way Jesus taught His followers to act. We are called to make disciples and there is nothing that turns people away faster than a self-righteous, critical Christian! They turn me off. That doesn’t mean we don’t stand up for Biblical truth, only that we don’t go around judging and critizing another’s intent. Only God is qualified to to judge someone’s heart. Next to God, we know ourselves best. We know our weaknesses, our failings, our innermost secret desires. To be a truly effective witness, we need to pray as David did. “Search me O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” A good practice to keep ourselves in check is something my wise wife does. Find a smooth stone to carry around in your pocket and whenever a critical spirit rears its ugly head in you, grab that stone and think of Jesus’ words. “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Humiltiy goes a long way in breaking down barriers too. Proclaiming what a super saint you are doesn’t open the door to a hardened heart but sharing the truth of personal struggles, past faiures, and how the Lord brought you out of them does. Humility is an admirable trait the world needs more of. As Christians we need to set the bar. Look for the good in others not the bad. Stand up for God’s truth but not in a critical, demeaning way. Search our own eyes for planks, ask the Lord to create a clean heart in us, and go forth humbly bearing the fruit of love and kindness, that the world may stop its critizing and maybe begin to listen instead!
Feb 1, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
The world is a mess and it doesn’t look like the clean up crew is coming anytime soon. The incredible idiocy can get to you, it can give you angst. Feeling a little bit angsty? Didn’t you hear Pastor Curt’s great advice yesterday? “If you want to worry less, pray more!” So simple, but let’s take it up another notch. What did the Apostle Paul say to the Philippians? “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Chist Jesus.” Still got a little heartburn? Okay, lets take it to the top. What did Jesus say in the middle of His sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:25-34? “Therefore, I say to you do not worry … Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature … why do you worry … therefore, do not worry … do not worry about tomorrow …!” You’ll have to read the whole passage yourself to fill in the dots. So why does Jesus tell us not to worry? Because He’s got us covered! He knows what we need, when we need it, and He promises to provide it, and He does! He doesn’t want us caght up worrying about earthly things but to be concerned with Heavenly things. He knows the world is a mess and He’ll take care of it on His timetable not ours. (personally, I’d be mounting up my warrior angels and preparing to clean house tomorrow) So, listen to the Lord, don’t worry about what He already promised He’ll take care of, spend more time in prayer, let Him replace your angst with peace, keep seeking His kingdom first, and let Him take care of the small stuff!
Jan 25, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
If you ever have any questions on how God expects a Christian to behave, read Matthew 5-7. Jesus pretty much laid it all out in His sermon on the mount, and there is a prevailing theme. When you give, do you do it privately or make sure everyone knows what a philanthropist you are? When you pray, do you spend time alone in heartfelt soul bearing or do youl love to give mini prayer sermons in public? When you fast, do you go about your daily routine normally or do you flounder about like you’re lost in the desert? Basically, whatever you do, do you do it to God or to be seen by men? Do you want the praise of man or of God? Do you want the rewards of the Lord or of man? It is so sad but many people, including some religious leaders, seem to be choosing man. Man’s acceptance is fleeting, fickle, and momentery but God’s acceptance is eternal! As Christians, all we do should be for the honor of God, whether small or large, private or public, He is our motivation. He knows our hearts, He knows our true intentions, and He will bless us for them. So, be aware of the needs of others, pray without ceasing for yourself and others, if physically possible, spend a designated time fasting, seeking a deeper relationship with Him, and as Jesus taught us in His prayer, in all things pray, “Thy will be done (not mine) on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Jan 18, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
I’m so glad that God’s love is amazing. That He accepts us as we are, that we don’t have to be cookie cutter clean to become a member of His family. The righteous religious rulers were stunned, as most likely were the Disciples, when Jesus called Matthew to join them. A tax collector was the lowest of the low in everyone’s eyes, but not Jesus’. He called Matthew as he was, warts and all, to serve in a special way, just as He did to us. I’ve always loved Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees that “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The world is full of sick people that need the Lord’s healing and what better place is there for them to go than His church? A place full of other sick people but ones that are on the road to being totally healed. It’s doors should always be open and ready to receive anyone seeking help. There is no one God cannot save and use, from any walk of life, and there is no one who should ever enter the church and not feel His love. Maybe churches should have a cross on their steeples and a red cross on their doors. People need to know they aren’t entering to be judged but that they are coming into a place of love and healing. May Capri Christian always be that place!
Jan 11, 2021 | #MotivationMondayatCapri, Devotion, General, Post
Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
1 Samuel 16:7 has always been one of my favorite scriptures and having lost every beauty pageant I’ve ever entered, a very consoling one as well. But even better, it shows how God doesn’t first look at irresponsible actions and thoughts, quick misjudgments or misspoken words, He first looks at the heart and its true intent. We all make blunders and say foolish, impulsive things. Look at King David. His list of sins were many, but he was God’s chosen because God knew his heart. So, how’s your heart? Do you love the Lord with all your heart? Is your heart committed to Him first? Do you seek to have a pure heart? (not easily obtained but something to strive for) Do you have a servants heart? What does God see when He looks at your heart? We serve a mighty yet forgiving God. He doesn’t light up our mistakes in a neon sign for all to see, He forgives and forgets. We will continue to blunder until He finally brings us home, but until then let’s all strive to show our love, our commitment, to be pure in thought and deed, and to have a servant’s heart. (even leaders are servants and those at the end of the line will get the same reward as those in the front) Even though God doesn’t look at it, let’s let that little heart of ours shine so bright that it can’t help but be seen in our outer appearance!
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Love changes things. It can warm a frozen heart. It can mend a torn relationship. It can lift a soul out of the pit of despair. It can change things. Love changes others, but loving others can change us. Soon after I accepted Jesus, circumstances led me to take a job as an orderly in a level one nursing home, something totally foriegn to my nature. After getting through the first day without running out the back door screaming, I truly started loving in a way I never knew. In a week, I found myself walking home singing, so happy from giving love in a special way. Love changes things, love changes us! Loving one another is a commandment that definitely should be followed in the church and Ephesians 5:19-21 is a good example of a Spirit filled church, yet a tough thing for many people to do is verse 21, “submitting to one another … ” Submitting doesn’t mean being a doormat but out of reverence for God and love for one another, we are to be thinking of the interests of others before our own. Love changes the church! Nobody is perfect, we all get our backs up now and then, and tempers may flair. We’re human, it happens, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to stop lovng! It calls on it all the more. As Paul instucts in Ephesians 4:26,27, “don’t let the sun go down on your anger!” Very wise councel that should be followed in all situations. Love restores relationships! So, go out tomorrow, go out the rest of your life, full of confidence, because you are undeservedly, unconditionally, loved by God, and graciously show His love to others and watch as love changes things!
By: Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
Author: Tim Irving
The world is a mess and it doesn’t look like the clean up crew is coming anytime soon. The incredible idiocy can get to you, it can give you angst. Feeling a little bit angsty? Didn’t you hear Pastor Curt’s great advice yesterday? “If you want to worry less, pray more!” So simple, but let’s take it up another notch. What did the Apostle Paul say to the Philippians? “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Chist Jesus.” Still got a little heartburn? Okay, lets take it to the top. What did Jesus say in the middle of His sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:25-34? “Therefore, I say to you do not worry … Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature … why do you worry … therefore, do not worry … do not worry about tomorrow …!” You’ll have to read the whole passage yourself to fill in the dots. So why does Jesus tell us not to worry? Because He’s got us covered! He knows what we need, when we need it, and He promises to provide it, and He does! He doesn’t want us caght up worrying about earthly things but to be concerned with Heavenly things. He knows the world is a mess and He’ll take care of it on His timetable not ours. (personally, I’d be mounting up my warrior angels and preparing to clean house tomorrow) So, listen to the Lord, don’t worry about what He already promised He’ll take care of, spend more time in prayer, let Him replace your angst with peace, keep seeking His kingdom first, and let Him take care of the small stuff!
If you ever have any questions on how God expects a Christian to behave, read Matthew 5-7. Jesus pretty much laid it all out in His sermon on the mount, and there is a prevailing theme. When you give, do you do it privately or make sure everyone knows what a philanthropist you are? When you pray, do you spend time alone in heartfelt soul bearing or do youl love to give mini prayer sermons in public? When you fast, do you go about your daily routine normally or do you flounder about like you’re lost in the desert? Basically, whatever you do, do you do it to God or to be seen by men? Do you want the praise of man or of God? Do you want the rewards of the Lord or of man? It is so sad but many people, including some religious leaders, seem to be choosing man. Man’s acceptance is fleeting, fickle, and momentery but God’s acceptance is eternal! As Christians, all we do should be for the honor of God, whether small or large, private or public, He is our motivation. He knows our hearts, He knows our true intentions, and He will bless us for them. So, be aware of the needs of others, pray without ceasing for yourself and others, if physically possible, spend a designated time fasting, seeking a deeper relationship with Him, and as Jesus taught us in His prayer, in all things pray, “Thy will be done (not mine) on earth as it is in Heaven.”
I’m so glad that God’s love is amazing. That He accepts us as we are, that we don’t have to be cookie cutter clean to become a member of His family. The righteous religious rulers were stunned, as most likely were the Disciples, when Jesus called Matthew to join them. A tax collector was the lowest of the low in everyone’s eyes, but not Jesus’. He called Matthew as he was, warts and all, to serve in a special way, just as He did to us. I’ve always loved Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees that “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The world is full of sick people that need the Lord’s healing and what better place is there for them to go than His church? A place full of other sick people but ones that are on the road to being totally healed. It’s doors should always be open and ready to receive anyone seeking help. There is no one God cannot save and use, from any walk of life, and there is no one who should ever enter the church and not feel His love. Maybe churches should have a cross on their steeples and a red cross on their doors. People need to know they aren’t entering to be judged but that they are coming into a place of love and healing. May Capri Christian always be that place!
Tim Irving – Evangelism Team