tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65143760790406938962024-03-14T10:01:41.992-07:00Joe's JourneyThe musings of a mid-life minister on some insights I've gleaned and lessons I've learned during 40 years of full-time ministry. Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of this blogspot. There are some "goodies" down there . . . pics, info,and a "guest book" (so you can let me know you stopped by). ENJOY!Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-61647903625622023062016-05-07T19:00:00.004-07:002017-07-12T12:13:35.619-07:00Navigating Life's Detours<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-37035076621237538002013-08-22T12:15:00.000-07:002013-08-22T12:15:46.117-07:00"I will seek You in the morning . . ."
I love that verse in the Gospel of Mark where it says that Jesus got up early each morning and went to a quiet, secluded place where He would pray. [Ever wonder what HE asked for from the Father? I think the prayer recorded in John 17 may give us some insights]. Anyway, this verse [Mark 1;35] reminds me of an old gospel song that was written 101 years ago [March , 1912], when a music publisher Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-30101749614325495872013-07-25T11:12:00.000-07:002013-07-25T11:12:07.425-07:00No other Gods but God, the Three-in-One: Yahweh, Yeshua and the Holy Spirit!
[http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/chaplain-ordered-to-remove-religious-essay-from-military-website.html ]
Please copy and paste the above link into your browser to read the article referred to in the following post.
The intent of the first amendment was NOT to separate the "state" from God! The "God" referenced in the Declaration of Independence is the God of the BibleJoe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-33061294829493500002013-02-04T13:30:00.002-08:002013-02-04T15:30:41.996-08:00The Church with Something Missing , , ,
There are many people in the world today who outwardly appear to have it all. But, inwardly, they would admit that there is something missing. I suspect that most of us know individuals like that.
But, did you also know that there are churches like that? Oh, externally, they may look great. I mean, they may have beautifully landscaped Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-46104762192297893062013-01-28T10:13:00.000-08:002013-01-28T12:11:21.089-08:00Only HOLD ON to What You Have!
Good Morning, Fellow Bloggers!
This post is my second attempt at writing to you today. The first one ended as I had just completed a rather "substantial" piece in Microsoft Word . . . which crashed. The "autosave" did not auto save, so I lost the entire document. [Now, why did the Lord let that happen? I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps the Lord had a different evaluation]. I was ready to "Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-70075060611925461212013-01-21T06:16:00.001-08:002013-01-21T06:16:23.848-08:00A "Churchy" World and a "Worldly" Church
"IN the world, BUT not OF the world" - that is how the church of Jesus Christ is often described. But, that is not necessarily how things always are.
Yesterday @ New Hope Bible Church, in our ongoing study of the "seven letters to the seven churches" in Revelation 2-3, we learned that the church located in the first century city of Pergamos [Revelation 2:12-17] had fallen prey to Satan's Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-54209808748029913432013-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:002013-01-14T17:13:38.334-08:00It Will Be Worth It All
Good Monday, Fellow Bloggers!
Okay, it WAS cold here in eastern Nebraska this morning. For some reason my dog, Sadie, wanted outside about 2:30 a.m.. On such occasions I might be reminded by my "better half" that "Sadie IS YOUR dog!" But not today . . . My partner didn't even stir the slightest. So, out we went, my Sadie and I. I am quite sure the temperature was near zero. But, for some reasonJoe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-23743441393231477592012-12-31T19:11:00.002-08:002012-12-31T19:11:34.660-08:00Behold your God!
When we lived in Palm Springs, California [eight years], and in Salem, Oregon [also eight years] we would stay up on New Year's Eve just long enough to watch the ball drop in New York City's "Times Square" and then retire for the night. Of course, at each location we were on Pacific Standard Time, which meant that we saw the annual event at 9:00 p.m our time on the West Coast.
Now that we Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-91818980853438366232012-12-25T12:43:00.001-08:002012-12-25T12:48:25.751-08:00My Christmas Holiday Activity: Reflecting on the Nativity . . .
It is Christmas day – December 25, 2012. I woke up very early this morning . . . about four a.m. It is nothing unusual. I am an early riser – always have been. Today my mind was filled with thoughts of the Nativity. As I laid in bed, I tried to imagine what it really must have been like for Joseph and Mary.
In so doing, I could not help but think what the arrival of our first child was Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-87986295569035009622012-12-17T09:37:00.000-08:002012-12-17T09:37:04.844-08:00From a Sigh to a Song!It has been called "the most wonderful time of the year." But that is not true for everyone. For some people the Christmas holiday season is the loneliest time of the year - even the most miserable time of the year. In fact, people [at least, Americans] struggle more with depression and are more likely to commit suicide during the month of December than any other month of the year. One Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-9153756027417748862012-12-14T16:46:00.000-08:002012-12-14T16:46:00.340-08:00My Prayer for TodayA deadly tragedy occurred in Newtown, Connecticut today. Its population of 27,560 [2010] was viciously reduced by more than two dozen this morning, when a 20-year-old man entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School at 9:40 a.m. carrying two guns, and went on a wild shooting rampage. At last count twenty five-year-old students in the kindergarten class were brutally gunned down by Adam Lanza, a son Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-24782363223539664612012-12-10T16:21:00.003-08:002012-12-10T16:25:47.534-08:00Pray for your Pastor[s]!Not too long ago I picked up a copy of Chuck Swindoll's book, The Church Awakening. It was hard to put it down. I love just about everything Chuck Swindoll writes, but as a pastor, I especially appreciated the following excerpt from chapter two, titled "Challenges, Struggles, Solutions, Priorities:"
"One of my favorite comic strips was The Far Side by Gary Larson. (Why do good cartoonists ever Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-3278763375570726422012-12-05T04:55:00.001-08:002012-12-05T04:55:42.238-08:00
Dear Blogspot "Family" and "Friends" around the world:
A few of you [but too many for me to remember specifically], have asked whether or not my sermons at New Hope Bible Church will be online. The answer is affirmative. Sunday morning [December 2] I preached at New Hope Bible Church for the first time as their new pastor. That message is now online. It is posted on a simple page with a sermon Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-37410589803188574162010-11-13T13:09:00.000-08:002010-11-13T15:09:38.816-08:00Verse of the DayI have a small but growing list of friends on Facebook. Some of those friends are former students of mine during the five years I was graced with the honor of teaching Bible and Music at the Southfield Christian School [Southfield, MI] - from 1972-1977. I have so many cherished memories of those days and the many incredibly talented young men and women that were in my choir, band, and Bible Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-83743447871981376222010-10-27T08:53:00.000-07:002010-10-27T09:02:04.957-07:00God knows what He's about!If my recollection is correct (though, admittedly, it is becoming increasingly fuzzy with each passing year), I first saw this poem about twenty-five years ago - early in my pastoral ministry. I just recently stumbled upon it again. I still don't know who the author is - but it seems to me that A. W. Tozer's well-known "one-liner" essentially sums up the point of this piece: "It's doubtful that Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-53614940820227818792010-09-06T11:01:00.000-07:002010-09-07T15:07:04.006-07:00On Making and Reading Many Books...Although he was considered a very well-read man back in the day (during the eighteenth century), before he died in 1791 the Christian theologian, itinerant preacher and Methodist Church founder, John Wesley, exclaimed: "Let me be homo unios libri [a man of one book]." Even though he was a voracious reader, I suspect John Wesley would loudly "Amen!" the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 12:12,Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-9651868401010544442010-04-29T11:35:00.000-07:002010-04-30T10:09:54.390-07:00Wait On the Lord"Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14).
On several occasions during the past 59 1/2 years I have found myself sequestered in one of the "waiting rooms of life." In fact, I'm in one now. Been here for 23 months. I am wondering if/when the Lord is going to open a new door of ministry for me. Most pastoral search committeesJoe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-67506437870528332282010-04-02T09:25:00.000-07:002010-04-02T09:30:53.589-07:00The Wonderful CrossThank you, Isaac Watts & Chris Tomlin. Your song expresses the passion and conviction of my own heart on this Good Friday, 2010.When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride See from his head, his Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-31070266814093810752010-03-21T07:26:00.000-07:002010-03-21T07:27:45.459-07:00Holy Ghost Hokey PokeyIf you thought the so-called "Toronto Revival" and Rodney Brown's"Laughing in the Holy Spirit" were bad, wait until you see what the members of mega-church "MorningStar Ministries" are doing in Fort Mills, South Carolina. It is pathetic. Lord, please have mercy on us! (Click on the link below).Holy Ghost Hokey PokeyJoe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-5328580451633519502010-03-16T08:30:00.000-07:002010-03-16T14:28:36.601-07:00On ContentmentI woke up last night about 2:30 a.m. There was a verse of Scripture that kept repeating in my mind, like the steady drip of a leaky faucet: ". . . The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). It should not have come as any surprise to me to wake up in that frame of mind. After all, I went to bed earlier than usual last night, and fell asleep grieving Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-8668241823089967142010-03-13T19:19:00.000-08:002010-03-13T19:59:21.453-08:00Loyalty - Or, On Rubbing a Dog's BellyI love labs. Win and I have owned four of them during the past two decades of our marriage. There were two periods when we owned three at a time (one black, one yellow, one chocolate). Win used to say (and still does say), "I’m glad they don’t come in any other colors.” For sure, because I would definitely need to have one if they did!My first lab was a black lab that was a stray I found in the Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-18294673469074337112010-03-02T08:04:00.000-08:002010-03-02T08:34:04.432-08:00Letters to My Sons (#1)The letter below is not the first letter I have ever written to one (or both) of my sons, and, Lord willing, it will not be the last. But, it is one of the most recent. I sent it to my older son, James, just days after the new year (2010) began. At the time he was planning to come to Oregon for a visit in early February, so we could celebrate his 26th birthday together. (For an introduction to Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-6452755238247712242010-02-26T18:14:00.000-08:002010-02-26T18:21:54.580-08:00Confessions of a Malcontent<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US ZH-TW X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-55573476177183897352010-01-28T13:03:00.000-08:002010-01-28T13:44:03.892-08:00Letters to My Sons (Introduction)I think that one of the greatest joys of my life has been the gift of fatherhood that my Heavenly Father graced me with twice during the past three decades of my marriage to Win (another incredible gift of His grace). We began praying specifically for our firstborn, James David (named after one of my best friends of over forty years now), the moment we learned that Win had conceived our first Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6514376079040693896.post-10058574594685288312010-01-07T09:12:00.000-08:002010-01-07T10:00:12.200-08:00Good Morning, Lord!I saw the most spectacular sunrise this morning from a vantage point high in the hills of West Salem. I couldn't believe it - I could see Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier! As I sat in my Jeep absolutely stunned by the glorious panoramic view before me, I could not help but think of these words, "Oh, Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder / Consider all the Joe Lombardihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01415566250679498453noreply@blogger.com1