Pastor Odie Kennedy's Pearls

I love church! I know that's what most people expect to hear from pastors, but I really mean it.  I love to be in fellowship with the saints, and I enjoy every opportunity I have to lift up the name of Jesus!  There's something about the excitement I feel when I see the people of God praising him for all that he's done.  When I think about what he has done for me, thanksgiving flows out of my heart and praise out of my mouth.  I've met some people who can't praise God because life has not gone the way they wanted. They don't have everything they think they should.  Some have lost loved ones.  Some have faced personal tragedies.  It makes me sad to know that there are people who don't know the pleasure of praise. People seek pleasure (enjoyment) from their jobs, relationships, and success, but there is a greater pleasure.  It comes from knowing the one who is greater ! It comes from a relationship with the Almighty God.  I know ...

Holy Week was full of excitement, tragedy, and triumph.  I wonder how many believers filled the churches?  How many families gathered around the table? I wonder how many people are still celebrating Jesus? Matthew opens the 28th chapter of the Gospel with these words, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdelene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher".  These women witnessed the cruel and bloody crucifixion of their Savior.  Can you imagine the anguish they suffered as the Lord hung on the cross? No doubt their hearts bleed out as his pooled on the ground.  Consider their trauma to see his beaten body hanging before them as his enemies laughed and cheered. These experiences could only be endured because of the hope that Jesus had given them before he gave up the ghost. Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins, but his resurrection fulfilled the promise of new life.  With the dawning of thi...