Leo and Paula Stefanovich-Price

12/11/2024

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE
Wednesday - December 11th 2025

Calvary isn’t a myth.
This past Saturday morning at around 3 AM this hymn came to my mind and woke me up.
This song was written by William R. Newell, 1895.
CALVARY
Verse 1
Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died, on Calvary.
Verse 2
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the Law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned, to Calvary.
Verse 3
Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing, of Calvary.
I love the whole song so very much but Verse 4 and the Chorus came heavy to my spirit.
Verse 4
Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that bro’t it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span, at Calvary.
CHO:
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary.
If it had not been for the ‘Birth Of Christ’ there would not have been ‘Calvary’.
Thank you, ‘Abba Father God’, for sending Christ...
Thank you ‘Jesus of Son Of God’ for coming.

I remember another old song: “If I didn’t have Jesus what would I do in this old world I’m traveling through, I’d be so weary and lonesome too, If I didn’t have Jesus ‘What would I do? He is a friend that stands close by and every need He will supply…”
That’s who Jesus is and that’s why He came.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” John 3:16
He came for all of us ‘The Good, The Bad and The ugly.
In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price
God Loves You whether you believe it or not. Jesus still came.

10/16/2024

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE
WEDNESDAY THE 16TH 2024

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT; (4) WHO COMFORTETH US IN ALL OUR TRIBULATION, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO COMFORT THEM WHICH ARE IN ANY TROUBLE, BY THE COMFORT WHEREWITH WE OURSELVES ARE COMFORTED OF GOD.

In an article by Patrisha Antonaros in StudyFinds (3-23-24) “Only 21% of people Feel True Comfort Each Day,” and only a fifth of Americans have experienced “true comfort” in the last 24 hours. The poll of Americans reveals that true comfort—feeling completely relaxed or at ease—can be hard to come by. The survey also finds that the average American only feels comfortable for a third of the day—roughly eight hours.

Again:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT; (4) WHO COMFORTETH US IN ALL OUR TRIBULATION, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO COMFORT THEM WHICH ARE IN ANY TROUBLE, BY THE COMFORT WHEREWITH WE OURSELVES ARE COMFORTED OF GOD.

I recall reading an article in ‘Christianity Today’ relating to too a 2017 ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine story of Elon Musk. There seemed to me a certain forthrightness from Elon Musk.(1)
With all in innovative ability and wealth, which was at that time estimated to be at a net worth of nineteen billion dollars and at that time the 47th richest person in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
After his divorce from his wife and then the brake up with his actress girlfriend the 46-year-old Musk had this to say: “Being in a big empty house, and no foot-steps echoing through the hallways, (and) no one there … How do you make yourself happy in a situation like that?"
He added, "When I was a child, there was one thing I said: 'I never want to be alone.'" And then he whispered again, "I never want to be alone."

Again:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT; (4) WHO COMFORTETH US IN ALL OUR TRIBULATION, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO COMFORT THEM WHICH ARE IN ANY TROUBLE, BY THE COMFORT WHEREWITH WE OURSELVES ARE COMFORTED OF GOD.

Our world is running in despair and loneliness because they are ‘Christless’ and without ‘Christ’ that’s the price.

And the answer to this is a bowed heart and a humble confession of praise and a prayer from the soul for ‘Forgiveness’ and asking ‘Christ’ to reign in our lives.

Annie S. Hawks in 1872 puts this confession of praise best:

(1) I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

(2) I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.
(3) I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
(4) I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
(5) I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price

(1) Billionaire Elon Musk's Loneliness
Adapted from Neil Strauss, "Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow," Rolling Stone (11-15-17)

08/21/2024

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE
August 21, 2024

I believe I’ll take the position of Scottish preacher George MacLeod (June 17, 1895 – June 27, 1991).

“I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the market place as well as on the steeple of the church,
• I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two can-dles:
• But on a cross between two thieves;
• on a town garbage heap;
• At a crossroad of politics so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek.
• And at the kind of place where cynics talk s**t, and thieves curse and soldier’s gam-ble.
• Because that is where He died, and that is what He died about.
• And that is where Christ's men ought to be,
• and what church people ought to be about.

More than 60 yrs. ago, theologian H. Richard Niebuhr summarized the creed of an easygoing American Christianity, “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment though the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

In Islam, Jesus does not die on the cross because such a fate is considered unfitting for a prophet of Allah. By Hindus and Buddhists, Jesus is often regarded as a spiritual master, but the story of suffering and death are considered unbecoming of an enlightened sage. Like the Budda, the truly liberated transcend suffering and death. But Jesus submits to it…willingly… for the sins of all.

There is a within our Christianity culture today a mood, an attitude of we want ‘A Crown With-out A Cross’. And along with the intellectual academia of our world there is an effort to destroy religion as a whole and Christianity specifically.

A case in point so that we may note that this ideology has been in the works for some time in our 20th century allow me to remind us of an L. A. Times article on Saturday, October 21, 1995, Home Edition Section: “Postmodern theology, argues that preaching “Christ crucified” so of-fends this present-day culture and religious relativists that it should be abandoned.”

Let’s see if I have this modern cultures thought pattern correct.

No Christ, No Cross, No Crown.

And let me remind you, just so you’ll know without a doubt where I stand.

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?

Refrain
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

Isaac Watts (1707)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price

02/17/2024

CALIFORNIA FRIENDS!
We'd love to see you tomorrow at Baldwin Park!

Come here the from this anointed man and woman of God. You don't want to miss out what God has to say to You.

08/09/2023

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE

THE LIFE OF DEMAS AND WHAT IT MAY TEACH US.

PART 9

In our last comments of ‘The Life Of Demas And What It May Teach Us’ we talked about ‘Actions.’
From ‘Actions’ we move to ‘Acceptance.’

It is here where we fully accept the ‘Worlds Philosophy of ‘FATALISM.’
This is where we accept the thought that “The Game Is Fixed And You Can’t Make Difference.” And God doesn’t make any difference in the equation because He either doesn’t exist or doesn’t care.

This is where we give up any resistance to the enemy and forsake any ‘Christ Centered’ defense.
We find that:
It is easier to…complain than to Conquer.
It is easier to…whine than to Win.
It is easier to…quit than to Master.
It is easier to…surrender than to Succeed.
It is easier to…abandon than to Prevail.

(Prov 16:25 KJV)
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Hard and narrow assessment you say, not fitting our culture of appeasement, my response will have to be a resounding yes… don’t however read into my response that my fleshly nature, the Adamic nature, the sin nature enjoys the process. My human nature doesn’t want to take up ‘The Cross Of Christ’ because ‘The Cross Of Christ’ cross cuts my life. My flesh pleads for another alternative, something less painful, something with less teeth in it… however as Shakespeare said, “here’s the rub” there isn’t ANY OTHER WAY, there is only ‘Christ And The Cross.’

“The Way of The Cross Leads Home”

The reason Christ Went To The Cross is because His Father wanted us to know that they were more interested:
1. People than programs.
2. Principles than compromises.
3. Foundational faith, than miraculous ministries.
4. Integrity than intelligence.
5. In being in your heart, rather than in your face.
6. In a healthy church, than a wealthy church.

The shortest verse in the King James Bible is John 11:35 (KJV) (35) Jesus wept.
This is deity responding to:
• Failed humanity and man’s inability to save himself.
• It’s an expression of the care and love of an unfailing God…to a failing humanity.

HIS WEEPING FOR US ANSWERS ONE OF THE THREE BASIC STRUGGLES WE FACE:

1) …DO I MATTER?
If Lazarus mattered… we matter.

It is the answer to Shakespearean question:
“To be, or not to be; that is the question;
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing them…end them…to die, to sleep;
No more; And by a sleep to say we end… The heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to;
Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished…to die…to sleep;

IT’S DEITY, IT’S GOD, IT’S CHRIST WEEPING FOR:
Adam and Eve in the garden…
The death of Able…
The antediluvian age of Noah…
The lost sheep of the house of Israel…
Peter in denial…
Paul in prison…
John on Patmos…

James in the 1st cent… to… Augustine in the 4th cent…

For a young boy in the 5th cent… by the name of Patrick… who at the age of 16 is sold into slavery… escapes… goes to Ireland… becomes a missionary to Ireland… we know him as St. Patrick.

IT’S THE WEEPING FOR:
A monastery in Cluny, France during the 10th cent… where a revival breaks out and spreads through France…
John Wycliff who finds Christ at Oxford during the 14th cent… and writes an English translation of the bible… The Wycliff Bible…

IT’S THE WEEPING FOR:
Thomas a Kempis, Joan of Ark in the 15th cent…
Martin Luther in the 16th cent…
John Wesley, George Whitefield and the First Great Awakening in America in the 18th cent…
Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Charles Haddon Spurgeon in the 19th cent…
The 20th cent. revival that breaks out in Topeka, KS. and spreads to Azusa Street in Los Angeles…

IT’S THE WEEPING FOR:
Every nation and culture…
Every church…
For us. Right here, Right now.
For you, for me, for all of us.

“JESUS WEPT”

To be continued.
In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price

07/26/2023

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE

THE LIFE OF DEMAS AND WHAT IT MAY TEACH US. Part 7

(2 Timothy 4:10 KJV)
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

AWARENESS:
This is where we become aware of the appeal and pull of the world and the age in which we live. There is a sense of pleasure that follows that appeal of this world and it is presented to us in many different ways.
It is at this point that we decide…we can handle and control the tug of the world. And that we can determine the power and strength of the love of the world in our lives.

We are instructed in…
(1 John 2:15-16 KJV)
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
{16} For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
{17} And the world passeth away………

Demas without any reluctance decided to follow the world and forgot that
• Sin will take you father than you wanted to go,
• keep you longer than you wanted to stay and
• cost you more than you wanted to pay.

I remember reading a story about a man working in the iron works in Sheffield, England. One of the workers slipped and fell onto one of the hot sheets of iron and then rolled to the floor dying. The man pleaded for someone to tell him how to find Christ. As the man died a voice from the crowd was heard to have said: “I could have told him, but my life sealed my lips.”

Demas allow the love of the world to have a greater pull on his soul than the voice of God in his life, consequently his life sealed his lips.

Sometime ago while sitting outside having a cup of coffee I heard a bird singing. I, however, could not locate where the bird was in the trees that were around me. The bird was well hidden from my sight. At that moment, a scripture came to my mind.

Colossians 3:1-3 (KJV)
(1) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
(2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
(3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid (a place of safety, secure, protected - lcp) with Christ in God.

Like the bird in the tree singing, that I could not see, I realized my life is hidden in Christ and I can sing.

And I like the Amplified Version

Colossians 3:1-3 (AMP)
(1) IF THEN you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
(2) And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.
(3) For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden (a place of safety, secure, protected - lcp) with Christ in God.

Demas couldn’t see the future of any benefit in serving Christ. The hunger and thirst wasn’t for Christ (John 6:35 (KJV) And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.), he wanted to sing ‘Let The Good Times Roll.’
There was no interest in being in ‘Christ’ if it was going to be what the Apostle Paul was encountering.

Psalm 91:1-2, 4, 9 (KJV)
(1) He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
(2) I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
(4) He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
(9) Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

Isaiah 49:2 (KJV) … in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me …
In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price

07/20/2023

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE

THE LIFE OF DEMAS AND WHAT IT MAY TEACH US. Part 6

(2 Timothy 4:10 KJV)
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

To the best of our knowledge Demas took no council with Paul. He decided for the world life not the sacrificial life to Christ that The Apostle was living.

Crescens and Titus are not put into the same frame of reference that Paul gives of Demas, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world…” Crescens and Titus were sent to do the work of ministry that the Apostle Paul would not be able to complete.

Demas was determined to avoid this kind of sacrificial life that The Apostle was living for Christ.

AVOIDANCE: ‘The action of keeping away from or not doing.”
This is the point where we avoid:
• INTERPERSONAL ACTION WITH CHRIST…
• WE STOP PRAYING,
• WE STOP BELIEVING
• AND WE STOP TRUSTING.
We stop INTERACTING WITH CHRIST, in anything that has to do with our Christian walk.

Matthew Henry remarks that “there is a proneness in good men to expect the crown without the cross.”

CS Lewis in his book ‘The Problem Of Pain’ says: “Christ says, “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You … No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself: my own will shall become yours.”

We begin by avoiding issues that have to do with the Holy Spirit’s conviction in our consciousness.

In dealing with the accusers of the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus brings conviction to their consciousness.

(John 8:7-9 KJV)
{7} So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
{8} And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. {9} And THEY WHICH HEARD IT, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

The deafening volume of what Jesus wrote on the ground was so loud that their self-righteousness was drowned out by each stroke of His Finger.

In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price

07/12/2023

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING PEOPLE

THE LIFE OF DEMAS AND WHAT IT MAY TEACH US.

Part – 5 ‘WHEN APATHY RULES.’

(1) Ultimately Demas wasn’t ‘Thankful.’
(2) Demas wasn’t following Christ, he was following the events in Paul’s life.
(3) Demas believed the price was too great to follow Christ.
(4) Demas was distracted and couldn’t see God at work.
(5) When you are not fully committed to Christ you will never be grateful for God’s Grace.
(6) Demas did not want to identify the love of the world in his life was greater than the love for Christ in his life.

“Remember you can’t fix what you can’t identify.” (lcp)

Refusing to identify what’s in your life leads to ‘Apathy’. I remember reading a story out of Charles Swindoll’s book ‘Living On The Ragged Edge’. The story is called ‘Apathy Rules.
“Every time I hear that word apathy, I remember the words of a friend of mine who taught high school just long enough to realize he shouldn’t have been teaching high school. It took him several years to come to that realization.
He was assigned to teach a course filled to the brim with students who did not want to learn. In fact, it was one of those classes where you had to arrive very early to get a back seat. A couple of the fellas got there so late, they were stuck on the front row. There they sat in their cutoffs and sneakers without socks. They couldn’t care less what the subject was.
The teacher finally got fed up with their apathy. He grabbed a piece of chalk, whirled around to the chalkboard and began to slash away in big, foot-high letters, “A-P-A-T-H-Y!” He underlined it twice, then slammed an exclamation point on it that broke the chalk as he hammered it against the board.
One of the dull students up front frowned as he struggled to read the word. Unable to pronounce it, he tilted his head to one side as he started spelling it aloud, “A-P-A-T-H-Y.” He mispronounced it, “Aa-payth-ee.” Then he leaned over and muttered to his buddy, “What in the world is ‘a-payth-ee’?” His friend yawned back with a sigh, “Who cares?”

APATHY: def. Lack of interest or concern, indifference.

Unfortunately, many times ‘Apathy’ begins in our ‘Christian Walk’ while we are in church.
It is possible to maintain a “CHURCH RELATIONSHIP” and not have a “CHRIST RELATIONSHIP.” This is called: (2 Tim 3:5 KJV) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Though going to church is in-separably linked to your Christian walk, as we are directed in (Heb 10:25 KJV) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: (exhorting one another to do what? To assemble together) and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We must remember, the church does not save you, Christ does and because of that you go to church.

Apathy says, “I’ll go to church, but I’m not interested in anything it has to say or offer. “It’s not relative to my life.

When ‘Apathy Rules’, it tells us that the ‘Love Of The World’ is driving us from ‘The Love Of Christ In Our Lives.’

In The Master’s Service
Leo Calvin Price