09/01/2026
Pastor's Notes - September 2026
Hello Beloved!
As I sit down to write this little devotional, I am reminded that I have been pastoring here at Pond Branch six months now. It was shortly after Joanne, and I started ministering here that I challenged the congregation to join us in reading through the Bible together. And if you have joined us in this endeavor, you know that we are over halfway through the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, this week.
As we read this book of the Bible, we find at the very outset from Jesus a command and a promise…
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:1-3)
As the text indicates, God the Father gave this message to Jesus Christ the Son, sent by an angel to John the apostle for US! The command and the promise are that if we will READ the words, HEAR the words, and HEED the words,… We will be BLESSED. And at the end of the command and the promise, there is a warning … “for the time is near”!
Beloved, I don’t know when the Lord is returning, for no man knows the day nor the hour. But things are shaping up so fast in these last days it would seem that we should pay closer attention to the things of God rather than the things of this world. Beloved, as the Scripture says, “Today, if you hear His voice, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS!” (Hebrews 3:6-16)
Peter reminds us in his epistle, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:9-13)
Some people seem to think (if they believe in God at all) that God is just dilly-dallying around and I’ll get closer to God when I get around to it. Oh Beloved, that is such a dangerous game to play in the Father’s timetable. Jesus goes on to say in Revelation 2, “return to your first Love!”
The Lord’s Peace and Mercy be upon us ALL!
Pastor Greg
