Not a Thursday Thought - 9/20/2025

You may look around and what is happening in our world, in our nation, in our state, within 100 miles of our city, and think “this feels personal”. It may feel that way.

Guess what? It is.

As a believer in Christ, as a follower of God, we are going to be persecuted.

The Bible tells us many times, just like Jesus had to remind the disciples many times about His coming trial, we have it written out for us in black and white, or red and white in some Bibles:

Matthew 5:10-12 NIV Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

John 15:20 NIV Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

There are more; Corinthians 12:10, Romans 12:14,1 Peter 3:14, Luke 6:22, Philippians 1:29, Hebrews 11:25, and so on…

So does being warned about this persecution remove any of the horror of the actions? Not at all.

We grieve for these families of children who were sitting in a chapel at school, we grapple with the tragedy of children growing up without a Godly father and his direction, we hurt with a nation because of random, wickedly cruel acts that play out in our headlines. These all needless, unfathomable crimes strike us to our core, because they are wrong.

But most importantly, they are evil.

Do not doubt that the evil one wanders too and fro to seek whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8). And if you didn’t believe in the devil, in the evil he does – just look around. And that is not going to stop.

I’ve been asked if I feel we are in the end times, I am not an alarmist by nature, not one to panic – in fact, I usually get really calm and steely headed as things around me swirl. But I will say, I believe now is the time to get things in order. I believe that we have to wake up from our several decade slumber in Christianity and get going, shake a leg, WAKE UP!

If you don’t know where you are going if you were to die today – get straight, get it fixed, figure it out now! Come talk to me, myself and many around here a the church will be happy to walk and talk you right to the kingdom steps and then Jesus will take your hand.

But these things feel personal. Why?

Because they are. Because these are an affront to God, to our sense of peace in God, and it reminds us of the time. Again, I say, we have been asleep. I am not pointing fingers, or placing blame… although maybe that is exactly what we need… But I am saying we have to pick up the mantle.

A voice in the wilderness, a modern day John the Baptist was beheaded 2 weeks ago. Just like John was symbolically and literally shut up, Charlie Kirk was assassinated for standing up for God.

Now you will hear all sorts of stories about the motive, the movement, the motion of this side or that side… but frankly it doesn’t matter, doesn’t fit really. Those are all outcomes of human endeavors. We made all those up, this side of the aisle or that side… those are all of our doing. We created those chasms…

But the silencing of an apostle of God? That is a direct attack from evil. The shooting and killing of schoolchildren? Evil. The attacking of a young girl on a bus just riding to work? Evil.

Evil is an attack from the evil one. And He is working overtime, right now. Just ask my staff at this church. We have been in the hospital more times than I care to count over the past week or two and have been in the human being blender for the past couple of months. Do you know the saying “what can go wrong will go wrong?” It has been “It goes wrong”.

And we need to wake up and come out of it with power and strength. We need to allow to make us grow and trust in God even more! Please listen to me. I am not saying that this is anyone’s fault, or you asked for it, or you got what’s coming to you or anything like that.

But…

If you asked Jesus to come upon your life, if you experienced the Holy Spirit transform you, if you wanted to know the peace that passes all understanding and you want eternal life with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then yes… you did ask for it.

And we need warriors. We need prayer warriors. We need gospel preaching warriors, we need out in front of people telling them that they need Jesus warriors.

And yes, maybe we are at fault for something that we need to hit our knees for, and ask for forgiveness from our heavenly Father. And the beautiful thing? He WILL forgive you. ALWAYS!

This feels personal because it is. Someone who was speaking for us was silenced. Guess what? That means that I need to say something. It’s time to not be quiet. It’s time to speak boldly for our God. Its time to make people listen to the gospel. Again, there are some, and it could be you, that were already doing what they could…

But let me speak for myself right now…. I WILL DO MORE. I will stand up for my Savior, I will speak His name boldly, I will proclaim the gospel, I will ask people to come to church, I will support HIS holy mission of reaching and teaching people for Christ. I will plead for energy and wisdom daily so that I can meet the challenge of the evil in this world, so that we can speak louder, bolder, and drown out the hate, and the unforgiveness. So that mercy and Grace will pour from our hearts, hands and feet. So we actually DO what we SAY!

This is hard, and this is scary. Maybe you have never been in a situation like this ever. Maybe there hasn’t been one, although I think the disciples went through it, didn’t they… up against the Sanhedrin and the pharisees? And aren’t we His disciples now?

We need to wake up. I’m so sorry that it took the martyring of someone to do it. I am so sorry that it takes the killing of innocence to accomplish it. I’m sorry that it takes something so tragic and unjust to get the ship turned around to head in the direction that you’ve always wanted us to go Lord….

But I will, your church will - hear you, listen to you, and stand up for you. Not even if we are persecuted, but when we are persecuted.

Amen.

Thursday Thought - 6/19/2025 - The Character of Jesus

John 4 NIV

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

We know Jesus was tired.  We know he was nearing the end of His journey, and the weight of what was going to occur must have been very heavy on Him. Also, Jesus was hounded by followers, and the constant questions and theatrics of the pharisees and their plans to trap him was constant.  Jesus knew where He was headed.  To the cross.  Every step took Him nearer.  I wonder about the toll on Him.  Jesus was tired.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Jesus knew history.  Their people didn’t communicate, and it was unusual for a man to address a woman.

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus knows this woman. He knows her story. He knows that she is supposed to be there at this time for this event, and that she - of all the people around, a woman, an outcast, a Samaritan, would deliver the message that Jesus wanted to be delivered.

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Instantly she knows the difference about this man.  She knows that He can give her this “water” to never thirst again. To fill the places that we fill with earthly things, He fills with love, peace, and spiritual things.  And He restores her.

Jesus tells her about herself to show that even though He knows all about her, He still loves her. Accepts her.  He was there not to condemn, but to save.

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

What did this woman do?  She testified.  She who was scorned, the lowest, told everyone about Jesus. She ran off to tell the people, who wouldn’t let her draw water with them, who scorned her, to tell them about Jesus.

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

The disciples still are not understanding what is going on, or even what the true nature of Jesus is. This woman saw it. She saw it so clearly, and believed it so profoundly, that she went to tell others about Him. In fact it appears she had to, she was compelled too.

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

We see the character of Jesus in this passage. Someone who loved all. We hear this so often in our culture now, that Jesus is love. And He is! But He is not merely love. He is conviction, He is truth. He is righteousness, and He is peace. He is mercy, and He is grace.

He does love this woman, and accepts her. But also in that acceptance there is the beautiful mercy of guiding her towards a righteous behavior, a standard that He wants us all to uphold.

Yes, we are chosen and loved.  But we are also convicted and taught, directed and guided. That is how Jesus changes us. And He does it today.

God bless you.

PTV

Thursday Thought - 3/13/2025 - The Woman at the Well

John 4 NIV Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

We know this story.  And in fact, it is one of the most precious stories showing Jesus’ character as a man, as God.  What may not be known is that Jesus was tired.  Jesus was being hounded by not only followers, which is not a bad thing, but can be overwhelming for anyone – but the constant questioning and theatrics of the pharisees and their plans to ensnare and trap him.  Remember, Jesus knew exactly where He was headed.  Towards the cross.  Each step takes Him nearer.  I sometimes think about how the toll of that knowledge wore on Him.  Ever had something coming up that you simply would rather not go through, and yet you know you must, and the weight of that?  Jesus was tired.  And He sat down.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Jesus knew the history of the Jews and the Samaritans.  In fact, there is history even today, we see it in every news reel and every update from that region.  This has not started recently; it has been waging for a thousand years and more.  They didn’t even talk to each other.

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

There isn’t even a question of an explanation from the woman.  See, this is why I have always said women are smarted than men!  But she knows instantly that there is something different about this man, Jesus.  She knows within her that He can give her this water, this changed life, that will never require her to thirst again for the missing things she seeks in her life.  Those places that we try to fill with earthly things, she knows He can fill them with righteous spiritual things.

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Jesus gives her a sign.  A sign that He is truly of God.  He tells her of herself, not to condemn her, but to show her that even though He knew all of that about her, He still would be in her life.  As Savior and Lord.  Not to condemn, but to save.

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 And what did this woman of sin do after that?  She told everyone.  A woman, who was scorned, ridiculed, even pushed to the lowest of society, told everyone about Jesus.  That is how Jesus changes people.  They become important, loved, chosen, and selected to be in His tribe.  That is how Jesus changes people.  They belong.

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Peace,

PTV

Thursday Thought 3/6/2025 - Are we headed for an awakening or a falling away?

I’ve read some shocking articles lately, that talk about the discontentment of the American Christian, and how many are using the phrase “dechurching” for the rise in people who used to attend a church, but now find they feel they are too busy, or they feel churches are “out of touch” with today’s culture.

In fact, in a recent article in the Winter 2025 issue of Influence magazine, the percentages that are quoted for Americans who attend church have gone from 70% in 1992 to 45% in 2023.

Of course, many will claim that this is all COVIDS’ fault.  And there is no answer for getting people to take the risk of attending a church service where illness can be caught as easily as it can be caught at the grocery store, however, somehow food is always a priority.

Let me remind you that you are reading the writing of a Lead Pastor of a rural church in Southwestern Minnesota.  So not only does this affect the ministry that I feel I am called too, but it also affects the livelihood of several people who count on the church.  So, I might be a bit biased.  But still, it is a sad state.

I do not believe that the loss in percentage of church goers is to be blamed on anything but that fact that humans are selfish and always looking out for numero uno. (themselves)

BTW – I do not claim to be better at this than anyone else.  I fall into the same traps of wanting things to be the way I want them, that I know better than God on how things should be going in my life.  And funny, when I concentrate on following a plan that puts God first in not only my actions buy also in my thoughts, I tend to be less anxious, more merciful, less impatient, and more loving.

Could it be that we just need to place our ambition, our strivings for a better life, into perseverance for trusting on the Lord?  Could it be that simple? The Bible seems to say so…

2 Peter 1:5 NIV For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge

Philippians 4:19 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 NIV I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.

It has long been established in my blog that I am a very eclectic music lover.  I have so many “favorite” bands.  Right now, I am relistening to an album that a very good friend of mine, Mi Hermano, and I would listen to together as we played EverQuest.  We would quote lines from the songs as statements of how we were feeling at the time.  The band Marillion has an album Misplaced Childhood they did in 1985.  There is a song titled ”Childhoods End”, and in the lyrics I find a portion that talks about how we just make it through the day, and how our hearts are so fragile, and how God (my interpretation) is the light we can find to have our heart put back together, because God can do anything.

“Hey you, you've survived.

Now you've arrived,

But that was looking backward.

Now you've found the light.

You, the child that once loved,

The child before they broke his heart.

The heart, the heart that I believed was lost

So, it's me I see, I can do anything.”

Peace,

PTV