Thy Rod & Thy Staff
Nondenominational Church
A place to serve, not sit.
What We Do
Church Purpose
Our purpose at our Bible base church is to get people to be like Christ and turn from that which is contrary to Him. We would like very much to lead others to make Christ the foundation of their lives. We would like to show Jesus as a faithful friend, a loyal companion, as someone who will stand by our side when no one else will.
As a body of Bible based Christian believers, we see our whole purpose as doing the will of God so that His Spirit might be manifested in our midst. With His hand we hope to convince others that Christ is our Lord and Savior. We want to show that if we trust in Him, He will very clearly show us that He is who He claims to be.– a Provider who can supply whatever we need whenever we need it under any and all circumstances, a Physician with no limitations in His healing power, a Counselor with infinite understanding and wisdom. We would very much like to reflect Christ in our midst as the Good Shepherd (Psalms 23 and John 10:1:18), as the one and only way to God, our Father in heaven.
Consequently, our Bible based churches goal is to get others to see the love of God and act accordingly. Undoubtedly God wants us to do His will but He wants it to be done out of love. God wants us to serve Him not because we have too but because we want too. God wants us to serve Him because we see Him as He is. He wants us to do His will because we see that doing His will is for out good. This is the purpose of our church and the platform on which it stands. We want to weld together a body of believers who love Jesus Christ so much that they want to be just like Him.
What Jesus Did
‘An Oath of Betrayal’ – Mark 14:70-72
But Peter denied [being with Jesus] again.
A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”
Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying — I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.
Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.
Key Thought
Peter swore that he didn’t know Jesus. Then he heard the rooster crow, and he realized the bitter truth. Not once… not twice… but three times he denied his LORD. The third time he even cursed and used an oath to deny Jesus. How could he have done it? How could he have slipped so far? A short time earlier he had drawn a sword and been willing to take on the armed group that had come to arrest Jesus. [1] Where had his courage, his conviction, and his commitment gone? We must realize that none of us is strong enough to guarantee we won’t fail or abandon our LORD at times. However, the test we face involves two parts: The first part is the temptation to sin. If we yield to that temptation and sin, the second is to have the courage to recognize it as sin, to be convicted to the core of our hearts of that sin, and to change our hearts and behavior to return to our deeply held allegiance to the LORD.
Today’s Prayer
O Father, give me courage. I want to demonstrate my allegiance to you, your Son, and your Kingdom no matter what my outward circumstances and temptations may bring. But, dear Father, if I fail and sin, please help me to have the courage to recognize it, to be emotionally convicted by it, and to be spiritually committed to come home and show that it was an exception to a life lived for you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Related Scripture Readings
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