Posts with the tag “pastor-greg-warmerdam”

I was trained as a teacher and a coach.  It took six years to complete a BA, and an MA and secure a teaching credential.  Trained in physical education, biology, and coaching basketball.  Six years, p...  Read More

Let us not get too smug about the knowledge of God we possess.  It is my God, and yours, who appeared to Ezekiel in glory—a compelling and overwhelming vision.  Not too long after, he received these i...  Read More

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout! (Song: "Jackson").  Lynn and I did.  August 1969.  It’s still hot!  As a country we were fighting a war across the ocean we were not willing to ...  Read More

How glib we can become.  We are privileged in these New Testament times.  We are bidden to come waltzing into God’s presence, and we do, in shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops, and talk casually with...  Read More

When I was pretty little, I realized I had a small bald spot.  It is on the left side of my head, in the hair at the temple.  I worried often about that.  I did not want to look weird to other people....  Read More

I found myself in need recently.  I was awake in bed for 3 hours.  I finally got up at 4 am, quietly so as not to awaken Lynn.  I could not do my normal read the Bible and pray pattern.  I was in too ...  Read More

Faith Goes OutLynn had to go to the dentist this morning, the day I wrote this.  She could have stayed home.  She could have told herself it was too hard.  There might be pain. They might find things ...  Read More

When Lynn and I returned to Fresno after a 28-year absence, we came back as different people.  We were now among the redeemed of the Lord, having been birthed through faith in Jesus Christ.  I left as...  Read More

Some years back, I was up in the mountains in the Kings Canyon area. I was reading this passage, meditating on it and praying during a time of drawing apart with Jesus. I was walking on a rough kind o...  Read More

Once in awhile I like to go to an oldies’ car show.  Lynn and I got an opportunity to do so that fit, so we went to Kingsburg last Saturday.  We purchased a couple of drinks and a cookie from Kuppa Jo...  Read More

I recently had my grandson over to help me with some work in the backyard.  We were replacing 180 sq. ft. of overhead lattice.  There was an area on the fascia board of the house which had a tangle of...  Read More

I started my day early.  I had an appointment at Kaiser Hospital.  While it was only for a blood test, the hospital world is always a little foreboding! It seems a negative.  But the truth is, the blo...  Read More

Barry McGuire came to our church to speak and sing 2-3 times in Reedley. He tells the story of encountering Arthur Blessit at a gathering.  Barry was partying when Blessit looked at him and spoke to h...  Read More

It’s raining.  My list of things to do this Saturday is long.  Yesterday I was bummed, just thinking of having to buy a new laptop (mine 8 years old, operating system outdated).  I have other tasks wh...  Read More

Thus is my soul this morning.  It waits on God.  It yearns to connect with Him alone.  I wish for a “faith capsule” in which to function all the day; that in that capsule I would hear one voice alone,...  Read More

We made a plan for a trip for my birthday, to go to Pacific Grove.  When we reminded our daughter the day before that we were going, she said, “Oh no!  It’s going to be raining all day!”  I told her I...  Read More

I drove away from home, to get out and get some perspective. When I need spiritual clarity, it often starts for me by getting away. Away from the house. Away from the city. When I see the mountains an...  Read More

Who are we in Christ?  Who is He to us?  There are a lot of descriptions.  Sometimes we are warriors, and stand and fight. Sometimes we run, and escape to the Lord as our stronghold.  Sometimes we are...  Read More

This was the outcome of God dealing with His people.  He had called to them many times.  They would not hear.  After many decades He scattered them with a whirlwind.  They were sent away to live in a ...  Read More

I want to get some landscaping cobblestones for my yard, for a project I am working on in my front yard.  I have been hiring my grandson, Connor, to help me with that project.  He is 15 years old, and...  Read More

Back in August I had a “blast of faith” one morning, empowering me to believe that the week ahead of me was the week to accomplish building the Grandparenting Summit service teams, to accomplish all t...  Read More

I awakened softly, curled up under the warmth of the covers.  I found myself wrapped gently with the Lord’s love, with His presence.  I lingered, relishing the moment, seeking to grasp His presence.  ...  Read More

I headed out about 7am, from home.  It was my Monday “get away with the Lord” morning.  I did not tell Lynn where I was going, because I did not know myself!  I had reviewed several destinations in my...  Read More

What is an act of grace?  The grace of God worked in the Macedonians to be givers of their means, out of their poverty, to other believers in need.  In this context, it seems to mean giving to others ...  Read More

Why does this thrill me?  Because salvation is not a mere transaction, or a legal document.  It is not a spiritual business deal.  All these are impersonal descriptions of something the law might reco...  Read More

I am here at the Hilton Hotel Double Tree Inn lobby, downtown.  It is a Monday morning, the last in May.  I have the privilege of getting away to anywhere I want on Monday mornings, to spend a little ...  Read More

I spent some time, in a special way, in that word some days back.  A more focused time than my normal morning meeting with the Lord.  I was out in an orchard, and I was alone.  I read Zechariah 6, as ...  Read More

This woman likely did not know what to do with herself.  She stirred in the middle of the night in her bed.  She wrestled around early in the morning.  This Jesus had accomplished some kind of transfo...  Read More

Having been anointed to be king of Israel, and also having been selected by God by lot, when Saul hears of the threats of the Ammonites and sees the tears of the people of Jabesh, he becomes very angr...  Read More

All the valiant men arose…There is a time for valiant men to do their job.  To arise.When they heard, they arose.  They somehow talked to each other, and formed a plan.  They banded together after a c...  Read More

In today’s text, Jesus was speaking about a man born blind from birth.  His statement seems so callous and heartless to us – that a man would have to suffer blindness for many years, from birth to adu...  Read More

This Old Testament call to love the Lord our God with all our heart has not changed.  Jesus expressed almost the same exact words (Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27).How might we think about such a ...  Read More

Perhaps the greatest treasure in our day to day lives in Christ is His having made us free.  Ironically, to most outsiders, this is the one thing we lack as believers!  But in truth we were slaves to ...  Read More

We have just finished Palm Sunday, passion week with Good Friday, the glory of Easter Sunday and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead! We commemorated the most significant event in all of human history!...  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

This is the final of a four part devotion from James 4:1-10.We all have hearts to serve the Lord Jesus.  That’s why you are reading this devotion.  That‘s why your read your Bible, and pray.  That’s w...  Read More

Previously James spoke about the quarrels and conflicts among Christians.  These he said arose from pleasures, lack and envy among the people.  He also declared with should ask God for what we need, i...  Read More

Here is a New Year’s blessing, for you:"God be gracious to us and bless us,And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah.That Your way may be known on the earth,Your salvation among all nations."  Psalm ...  Read More

What a statement!  Our beings rise up against this stark, either-or demand!  He cannot really mean that!  It is just a manner of speaking!But Jesus Himself said that we cannot serve two masters.  We w...  Read More

James in his letter writes to the church – “To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion!” (James 1:1).  It alarms me that he speaks of murder in regard to believers, and all the more alarming that the disp...  Read More