Pastor Odie Kennedy's Pearls

Today is a special day for believers all over the world! It's Resurrection Sunday! Due to the traditions, many regard Easter as a day of eggs, candy, and church.  And that's not really a bad thing if we know the egg symbolizes new life, the candy is a sweet triumph, and the church is kingdom celebration.  This is the time that we celebrate the resurrection of our crucified Savior.  He got up! To redeem man and conquer sin, Jesus endured humiliation, betrayal, and a brutal death.  I am so glad that his story did not end there.  He rose with power over death and the grave.  Because Jesus got up, you can get up. No matter what you are going through today, you have the Risen Savior on your side.  He loves you so much that he gave his very life for you, and then he got up to give you the victory! I encourage you today to get up.  Life may have beat you down, but don't stay there.  You may be asking yourself how you will do it.  On th...

Do you ever feel like your situation is just too much?  Too much for you? Too much for the people around you? Sometimes even too much for God? Some would rebuke you for even admitting such things.  I'm not one of them.  The truth is, life can beat us down to a place that we struggle to hold on to our faith.  It doesn't mean that we have turned our back on God.  It's just our natural is feeling disconnected from God's supernatural.  When this happens, we either give up or we become desperate.  Mark 5:25 tells the story of a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve long years.  She spent all she had trying to get help.  No matter what she did, she got worse instead of better.  One day she heard that Jesus was close, she made up her mind that if she could just touch his hem, her twelve years would be up! This woman was an outcast just because of her unclean condition.  No doubt, she was ostracized, ridiculed, and abandoned...

We are living in dangerous times.  When people are afraid to go to church because they might get shot down in worship, these are dangerous times.  Children are reported missing and we have wonder if they have been taken for sex trafficking.  People are looking for ways to fill the void of love, and drugs are being legalized and sanctioned as a remedy.  There is so much going on around us, but the believers have hope.  We have the answer to the problems of today.  We have a God that will bring us through.  All we have to do is keep on pressing.   In Luke 13:10-15, we find a woman that has suffered with an infirmity in her body for eighteen years.  She was bent over and unable to function normally.  She entered the  synagogue where Jesus was teaching, and he healed her.  The religious leaders were upset because Jesus healed on the sabbath day.  Can you imagine coming to church, but you can't receive healin...

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet will I rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.  To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. No matter how hard things may get around us or what may be happening in our lives, we have a God that will get us through.  It may seem like at times that God is not answering our prayers, but we have to know that God has been good to us.  God is listening. I was raised that it was wrong to question to God, but I've come to find out that God wants relationship with us, and with that comes communication. It's hard to look at the cruelty of humanity and our political...

And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.  And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 1Samuel 15:13-14 You don't have to look very far to see that people still want to do things their way. They don't want to be told how to live or how to conduct themselves.  For some, taking instruction has become optional, but this should not be so for God's people.      In the scripture, God told Saul to kill all of the Amalekites. He was thorough and specific in his instructions, when he said "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass".  Instead of doing exactly as God said, Saul decided to spare the king and the best of the sheep.  When Saul spoke to Samuel, he proudly proclai...

Still waters run deep -Latin Proverb I have fond memories of my recent trip to Hawaii.  The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, the food amazing, and the company second to none.  Traveling with my daughters created memories I will treasure forever.  Our time on the water was exciting although the boats were small and the water sometimes choppy.  You can imagine the butterflies in my stomach!  Sometimes our lives can feel small and choppy, but what do we do when the water is still?  What do we do when it seems like God isn't moving? We've learned how to multi-task when life gets busy.  We've learned to try new things when life seems small.  Have we learned what to do when we can't see any change in our situations? Let me encourage you! Still water runs deep.  Things may look still right now, but there is some troubling under the water.  When we can't trace God, we have to let our faith be our compass.  God in His sovereig...

We're wrapping up January but it still feels like a new season.  I still have to remember to get the date right.  When I write 2018 instead of 2019, it reminds me that I can't bring the struggles of 2018 into my new year. To make a natural change is one thing, but what about the spiritual change?  Is your spirit man still in 2018? So many are proclaiming that 2019 is their new season.  New year, new me.  There's nothing wrong with making the proclamation as long as we are willing to move to the destination.    We serve a great God and nothing he does is small or ordinary.  When he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, he sent plagues before their release.  Every plague was worse than the last, but Pharaoh was unmoved.  I wonder how many of the Israelites were also unmoved. When God is taking us to a new place, old things cannot go.  It takes a forceful determined effort on our part to go where God is calling us...