Posts with the tag “pastor-jim-cecy”

I was at the Los Angeles airport talking to the agent at the check-in counter. A tall gentleman behind me interrupted, “Are you Dr. Cecy?” I turned and responded, “Well, yes, I am.” He continued, “I r...  Read More

Permit me to share another reading that has changed my thinking over the years. I hope it helps you as much as it continues to help me. It is entitled: “Dying to Self”.• When you are forgiven or negle...  Read More

Rather than write a fresh devotional, I want to share with you something I read many years ago that quite literally changed my way of thinking. It still does:If God has called you to be really like Je...  Read More

How familiar the conversations among family and friends have been recently: What would you do if you won…or inherited…millions of dollars?” Their answers were no surprise: “Look what I could do…where ...  Read More

Sometimes God brings to my mind the writings of those whose lives have been deeply used to touch my heart. The following is one such prayer, written by Arthur Bennett as an introduction to his book, “...  Read More

I wish I could say it was easy for this life-long city boy to move to the agriculturally blessed San Joaquin Valley. I have since learned to deeply love the people and this city.  I am especially grat...  Read More

In Biblical Hebrew:הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד'In Romanized Hebrew:Hinneh mah tov umah na'im shevet achim gam yachad.Translated into English:“Behold, how good and how pleasa...  Read More

Harvard University was founded in Massachusetts in 1638, just 18 years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Like most Ivy league schools, Harvard was established primarily to train ministers of...  Read More

I am struck by the profound simplicity of the promise made by the LORD to His people:Isaiah 46:3-4  “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne...  Read More

Sin is so very deceitful. We need others to help us see it for what it is. I remind us  of what the writer to the Hebrews wrote: . . . let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good dee...  Read More

I am guessing most of us have an ignored end of our closets where we keep the clothes that no longer fit or are out of  style and the shoes we rarely wear. Who among us doesn’t have “a junk drawer” cl...  Read More

Magnum opus is Latin for what is viewed as the most important work of a person. It is the opposite of what some might see as a failure, a clunker, a debacle…even a bomb! After 72 years of life I have ...  Read More

Around 600 BC King Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah and Coniah) was just eight years old when he became King of  Judah. Just eight years old! And he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. Jus...  Read More

Reading 1 -2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles for these past number of weeks has been a sober reminder of the ups and downs of faith. In 1 Samuel 7, we read about the people of God tired of livin...  Read More

Each day this week we are releasing a video devotional from one of our pastors related to the Passion Week designed to help you meditate on the events of Jesus' final week.We invite you to go through ...  Read More

Each day this week we are releasing a video devotional from one of our pastors related to the Passion Week designed to help you meditate on the events of Jesus' final week.We invite you to go through ...  Read More

Each day, we will release a video devotional from one of our pastors related to the Passion Experience - an online, interactive, immersive experience designed to help you meditate on the events of Jes...  Read More

Each day this week we are releasing a video devotional from one of our pastors related to the Passion Experience - an online, interactive experience designed to help you meditate on the events of Jesu...  Read More

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality...” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).Fundamentally, much of the battle for the lives of unwanted babies is also...  Read More

This week we celebrate President’s Day. Well, maybe we get a day off but I doubt if there is much celebrating. We used to hold these national leaders in high regard, even if we disagreed with their po...  Read More

In Jewish history, Leviticus was the very first book taught to children. Wow! I suspect it is the very last Bible book we would teach our children today. Let’s be honest. Leviticus is really a tough ...  Read More

Call it the examined life, the disclosed life, the transparent life, the vulnerable life, the defendable life, the reporting life, the responsible life, or the honest life. It is one of the keys to wh...  Read More

Tom Landry, former National League Football coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said: “The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they always wante...  Read More

I am especially challenged by the meaning of the words of the Old Testament Prophet, Jeremiah, as he implored the people in his day: "Let us examine and probe our ways . . . ." (Lamentations 3:40). No...  Read More

In my travels I have visited several ancient ruins, including the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, more commonly known as the Colosseum. During those ancient battles, the gladiators would sometimes fight...  Read More

One of the first Bible books I ever thoroughly studied (and preached) was Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. The following are some names given to this epistle by some of the great preachers: • The Magna...  Read More

On the second Monday of October my Canadian relatives gather for their version of Thanksgiving Day. It is held at a time that brings back fond memories of my childhood in Ontario--picking apples, play...  Read More

I am rarely a crier, especially in public. In fact, I used to react to preachers who were “pulpit criers” who made me wonder if it was for real or for show. Frankly, it was wrong of me to accuse their...  Read More

I have spent many decades listening to children and grandchildren crying out for their baby bottles. They really have no understanding of the value of the milk. They just want it and want it now! The ...  Read More

In the early years of my Christian life my prayers had a ring of the “too familiar,” even bordering on being  monotonous. In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned us about using many hollow words and v...  Read More

I am always amazed when I read the apostle Paul’s commendation in 1Thessalonians, Chapter 1, written to a group of new Christ-followers who may have only been six months old in the Lord. He could not ...  Read More

In Acts 28...the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles...we find Paul and 276 shipwrecked crew safely on the Island of Malta. It is now the spring of 61 AD—six months after they left Caesarea for R...  Read More

Acts 27 is the record of the first part of Paul’s journey to Rome in the Fall of 60 AD to stand before  Caesar, as God had promised (23:11).  It is a risky time to travel by ship and Paul warns of the...  Read More

In Acts 26 we find the apostle Paul now standing before King Agrippa II... • the son of Agrippa...who killed the apostle James• the grandson of Herod Antipas...who killed John the Baptist• the great-g...  Read More

In Acts 25 we are back at the trial of “Paul vs. Everybody” — this time before Governor Festus, who replaced Governor Felix. Festus goes to Jerusalem and gets an ear-full from the jealous Jewish leade...  Read More

In Acts 24 the apostle Paul is in Caesarea by the Sea, standing trial before Governor Felix. Frankly, this is more than an ancient courtroom drama. We get to bear witness to God intervening in Gospel ...  Read More

"I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead" (Acts 23:6)  I have never been on trial. However, I have served as a jury foreman in a trial in which we, the jury, found  a young man guilty...  Read More

“But then it happened...” (Acts 22:6)  Acts 22 puts us with the apostle Paul, defending himself before the Jewish leaders who, from his childhood,  gave him his religious training. My summary of his ...  Read More

It’s hard to suffer. Sometimes, it is even harder to watch loved ones to go through difficulties. The anguish of someone we love going through...or about to go through...great difficulty tears at our ...  Read More

The apostle Paul is in Greece, preparing to go to Jerusalem, fully expecting to suffer greatly there. Before he leaves, he provides (in vv. 28-35) instructions that ministry leaders of every age shoul...  Read More