and 614 Warehouse Mission, 22 April 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the sermon:
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/03/james-217-salvation-equation.html
More thoughts and homilies:
Daily reflections:
Saturday, April 21, 2018
James 2:17: Salvation Equation
Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 25 March 2012
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 22 April 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the sermon:
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/03/james-217-salvation-equation.html
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 22 April 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the sermon:
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/03/james-217-salvation-equation.html
Romans 12:15: Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Presented to River Street Cafe, 20 April 2018
I read this verse as I was trying to come to terms with the tragic bus crash in Saskatchewan. I honestly did not expect to feel the amount of grief and sadness that I do. Friends of mine have lost friends and family members. My heart breaks for them. My heart breaks for the young people and their families.
As I led prayer time here in Toronto the other Sunday, I had to stop more than once to regain my composure. Songs at the Sunday service would remind me of people whom I knew would be grieving. Images would flash before my mind. I used to live in Nipawin and pastor churches in both Tisdale and Nipawin. I would drive that same highway where the accident happened every week, many times a week. One Spring afternoon, at about the same time of day, at about the same time of year, I was driving that same stretch of highway with my two young daughters in the car. Our car crashed and rolled over and we were left dangling in the air. We were okay. I, disoriented, even wandered out into the middle of the highway at one point. We were in shock but we were okay.
I can't imagine the family members, friends and others standing recently on that same stretch of road - and their loved ones aren't okay.
My mind races. I recall a house fire in Nipawin that killed two very young children who were classmates of my daughters and my having to speak to the press. I think of those families then in Nipawin and the families now in Humbolt. My heart hurts. I recall an explosion and fire in Nipawin, right behind my office, as well. I recall standing next to people dying on the sidewalk. I recall walking the streets talking and praying with everyone I saw. I recall organizing food for those who needed it and providing comfort when I could. This time I am hundreds of miles away.
I recall my friends in Swift Current. The bus crash of 1986 is still in people's memories and their hearts. I have one friend who was a first responder and has told me many of times about that incident. I see my friends grieving. I can do nothing but pray and pray I shall for peace and comfort for all who are grieving as I, even though separated by thousands of miles, mourn with those who mourn.
I read this verse as I was trying to come to terms with the tragic bus crash in Saskatchewan. I honestly did not expect to feel the amount of grief and sadness that I do. Friends of mine have lost friends and family members. My heart breaks for them. My heart breaks for the young people and their families.
As I led prayer time here in Toronto the other Sunday, I had to stop more than once to regain my composure. Songs at the Sunday service would remind me of people whom I knew would be grieving. Images would flash before my mind. I used to live in Nipawin and pastor churches in both Tisdale and Nipawin. I would drive that same highway where the accident happened every week, many times a week. One Spring afternoon, at about the same time of day, at about the same time of year, I was driving that same stretch of highway with my two young daughters in the car. Our car crashed and rolled over and we were left dangling in the air. We were okay. I, disoriented, even wandered out into the middle of the highway at one point. We were in shock but we were okay.
I can't imagine the family members, friends and others standing recently on that same stretch of road - and their loved ones aren't okay.
My mind races. I recall a house fire in Nipawin that killed two very young children who were classmates of my daughters and my having to speak to the press. I think of those families then in Nipawin and the families now in Humbolt. My heart hurts. I recall an explosion and fire in Nipawin, right behind my office, as well. I recall standing next to people dying on the sidewalk. I recall walking the streets talking and praying with everyone I saw. I recall organizing food for those who needed it and providing comfort when I could. This time I am hundreds of miles away.
I recall my friends in Swift Current. The bus crash of 1986 is still in people's memories and their hearts. I have one friend who was a first responder and has told me many of times about that incident. I see my friends grieving. I can do nothing but pray and pray I shall for peace and comfort for all who are grieving as I, even though separated by thousands of miles, mourn with those who mourn.
www.sheespeak.com
More daily blogs at
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Matthew's 6 Cents on God and Money
Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 18 August 2013
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 15 April 2018
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/08/matthew-6-sense-and-non-cents.html
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 15 April 2018
by Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read the sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/08/matthew-6-sense-and-non-cents.html
More daily blogs at
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Proverbs 3:13-18: Advertising Haikus for Life
Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 Nov. 2012
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 07 April 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read:
https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/11/proverbs-313-18-advertising-haikus-for.html
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 07 April 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/11/proverbs-313-18-advertising-haikus-for.html
More thoughts and homilies:
Daily reflections:
Devotion 3.27/128: John 13:13-17: Spoonful of Salvation
This story is from an article by Reverend
Dr. Darren J.N. Middleton published in The Expository Times where he relates a
Ghanaian parable:
Once Kwaku Anansie lived in a town filled with wicked [selfish]
people. They were always fighting, backbiting … [gossiping, and just being
selfish]. Finally Kwaku decides to teach the people a lesson. He tells his wife
to prepare a large banquet. Then he invites everyone in the town on one
condition, that they have to eat with the spoons that are provided. As the
guests arrive Kwaku hands each guest a spoon with a very [very] long handle.
The guests then begin to eat the delicious food set before them. But since they
are sitting close together they begin to disturb each other with their long
spoons. In a short time all the guests are pushing, shouting, and fighting with
one another. Kwaku [then] stands on a chair and calls for order. ‘I have
invited you to a banquet and you have turned it into a battleground. Why are
you doing this?’ One of the guests then raises his spoon and shouts, ‘Kwaku
Anansie, you have [betrayed and] deceived us and made us look foolish! Nobody
can eat with these long spoons you have given us! Kwaku responds, ‘no, it is
not that I have made you look foolish but rather your own selfishness has
betrayed you.’ Then he calls one of the guests to sit across the table from
him. ‘This is the way to use these spoons’, he says as he dips his long spoon
into the soup and feeds the person across from him.
Kwaku fed his guest personally, everyone at
the banquet needed to do the same in order to enjoy the meal. Jesus washed his
disciples feet and every one of us who has been cleansed by Jesus needs to do
likewise at the eschatological banquet as we inherit everlasting life. Jesus
says, John 13:13-17:
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what
I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also
should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do
as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than
his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that
you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Now that we know these things, we will be
blessed if we do them. This is important. There is no room for selfishness at
the everlasting banquet. There is no room for thinking we are above helping
others and serving them as a servant would serve a friend of his master. This
is the only way we can truly enjoy our place at the eternal feast with Christ.
In what ways can we accept a spoonful of
salvation from someone else while we offer them the same?
More thoughts and homilies:
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