2021 Devotionals
Scroll down to see the latest devotionals from our Senior Pastor and staff!
Moving Ahead Without Fear
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/30/2021
0
Psalm 91:5-6 (NIV) You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
We are living in a time where most of the people in this world are living in fear. Everyone is being conditioned to be fearful, as all the news and reports seem to be bad news that gets worse every day. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians have fallen into the fear trap along with everyone else. Add
...read more
Greater Joy
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/28/2021
0
Psalm 4:7-8 (NLT) You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.
Happiness is very fleeting. It's momentary because it depends on what is happening at the moment. If what is happening is really good, then you will be happy...until something happens that is not good. That something that is not good could very well come immediately after something that jus
...read more
He Chose to Come as a Baby
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/23/2021
0
Luke 2:6-7 (NIV) While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
When our daughter-in-law became pregnant, we eagerly awaited the day that the baby would be born. It was about this same time last year that the time came for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. This is where the similarity
...read more
Saved Through Impossible Means
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/21/2021
0
Luke 1:37 (ESV) For nothing will be impossible with God.
When we want to declare that we believe that God will move on our behalf or on behalf of someone else through a miracle, we often say, "Nothing is impossible with God!" We say that and we want to believe it and when we persevere, the Lord gives us the faith that we need to believe that God will accomplish what is not possible for us because it's possible with Him. But it is good to look at the context of this verse th
...read more
Be a Floodlight
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/16/2021
0
Luke 11:36 (NLT) “If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
When my children were young, my wife and I used to take them camping every year. One of the things that was exciting about the experience was sleeping outdoors (albeit, in a tent) at night. Having grown up in New York City, we really never experienced being outside at night without any help from a streetlamp or some
...read more
Who Is This Man?
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/14/2021
0
Mark 4:41 (NLT) The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
One day Jesus got in a boat with the disciples to get to the other side of the lake. He took advantage of the downtime in getting across the lake and decided to catch up on some sleep. While He was sleeping, a terrible storm came up and the boat was being tossed violently on the waves to the point that the water was coming into the boat. The
...read more
What Can God Not Do?
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/09/2021
0
Psalm 78:20 (NLT) “Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
When the people of God that had been enslaved by Egypt were set free through the Lord's miraculous intervention, it didn't take long for them to rebel. Just a couple of months after leaving Egypt, they got tired of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain and had Aaron make a golden calf for them to worship. Judgement came on the ones that led that rebell
...read more
Keeping It Real
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/07/2021
0
Psalm 73:25-26 (NLT) Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.
I love the Word of God because it is not full of rosy stories that don't have any semblance of the reality of what we deal with in our daily lives. In Psalm 73, the psalmist is complaining about how wicked people seem to get away with everything and seem to live painless l
...read more
The Greatest Blessing from the Greatest Crime in History
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
12/02/2021
0
Mark 15:38 (NLT) And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Among the many lessons in life that we learn, one of them is that if you do good, then you get rewarded. If you study hard in school, you will get the reward of good grades, with perhaps even accolades from your instructors. If you are a diligent worker, you will probably be a candidate for a higher position at your job. Good behavior is generally rewarded in our society. Th
...read more
When an Insult is a Good Thing
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/30/2021
0
2 Samuel 16:11-12 (NLT) Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.”
One day, King David found himself running from his own son, Absalom. Absalom had been conspiring for a while to win the hearts of t
...read more
A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/25/2021
2
Psalm 50:14-15 (NLT) Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
If there is one thing that God makes clear to us through His Word, it's that we need to be thankful. Thankful for what? The Lord says that we should be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). That sounds like a tall order, especially because a good number of our c
...read more
Dining at the King's Table
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/23/2021
0
2 Samuel 9:13 (NLT) And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.
Mephibosheth was King Saul's grandson. In the chaos and confusion of a lost war where his father, Jonathan, was killed along with his grandfather, his nurse dropped him as she was fleeing from the Philistines and he became crippled (2 Samuel 4:4). With his family decimated and no longer in power and with his being crippled, Mephibosheth wound up poo
...read more
Good for Goodness' Sake
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/18/2021
0
2 Samuel 9:1 (NLT) One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
David is a man who was considered by God to be a man after His own heart. No one but David holds this distinction of being considered as someone who had the likeness of God's own heart. It gets a little confusing as you read about David's life and learn that he not only made a lot of mistakes, but that a couple of those mistakes were actua
...read more
Consider Your God
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/16/2021
0
Psalm 33:6 (NIV) By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Life is a very serious journey. While there are moments of happiness and joy, there are also many times of heartache, pain and sorrow. Sometimes the unexpected happens and catches you off guard. Then there are the times that great trouble comes your way and it seems as though you have your back against the wall with no way out. Sometimes, several unmanageable situat
...read more
Beyond the First Mile
by: Pastor Joey Vazquez
11/11/2021
0
Matthew 5:41 (NIV) If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Back in the days when Jesus walked the earth, the Roman Empire controlled a big chunk of the world's population. The Romans, even though they were barbaric in many ways, were very big on obeying laws. One of those laws was that a Roman soldier could force a Roman citizen to carry his equipment for one mile any time that he wanted to. It was with this law in mind that Jesus uttered the words abov
...read more