1. Don’t betray a confidence.
2. Don’t fail to show appreciation.
3. Don’t live beyond your income.
4. Don’t be a sting person.
5. Don’t fail to keep your appointments.
6. Don’t allow anyone to dictate your message.
7. Don’t be lazy.
8. Don’t be professional, artificial, or sensational.
9. Don’t overlook the Bible when looking for texts.
10. Don’t neglect the sick and sorrowing.
11. And last, but not least: Don’t grow old. “Winter is on my
head, but eternal Spring is in my heart.” You may die of old age, but
you will die young. – Pastor Scott Richardson
Birthdays
13th – Joey Borders 14th – Christie Small 16th – Cindy Farmer
“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool
than of him.” - Proverbs 26:12
*****
There was a lawyer who asked Christ an important question with an evil motive.
“A certain lawyer stood up and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?”(Luke 10:25) The Lord could see through
the hypocrisy, and He answered him upon the ground he came. “He said
unto him, what is written in the law? how readest thou?” (Luke 10:26)
Not only did He ask him what was written, He asked him how he was reading.
How am I reading God’s Holy Word? The Lord rebuked the Pharisees in
how they read the Word. “Ye search the Scriptures, for in them you think
ye have eternal life,” but they missed the point…“And they
are they which testify of Me.” Am I reading the Word of God to have
more knowledge? As a religious duty? To prove my point? To look for loopholes?
Or do I come to the Scriptures saying, “Speak Lord, Thy servant heareth.”
How readest thou?
*****
The promises of the Gospel do not deal with feelings, but reality. By the
Gospel we ARE accepted in the Beloved, even if we do not FEEL accepted. We
ARE forgiven in Christ, even when we do not FEEL so. Many a struggling believer
has doubted his struggles by polling his feelings for proof of grace. But
we live by faith, not by sight; that is, we live by believing even when there
is no discernable proof of the things we believe.
We are prone to think our faith most strong when we most “feel”
it, but faith is best proven when it has no supports. He who can trust Christ
and cling to Christ when he has no emotional testimony to verify his faith
is truly the one who has that faith which is the gift of God. The faith generated
by the flesh must be continually supported by the flesh. But that faith which
needs no support but lives on the bare promises is that faith which comes
from God. – Pastor Joe Terrell
FULL, YET EMPTY, OF SIN
As a believer (with two completely opposite natures, one of sin and one of
holiness), I often tend to see things quite differently than God sees them.
I see in myself nothing but sin, and no righteousness (the old man), yet God
sees nothing but righteousness and no sin (the new man), for “in him
(a believer united to Christ) is no sin.” (I John 3:5) Christ put away
my sins to the extent that even God can’t find them. “In those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” (Jer. 50:20)
My sin is gone, vanished, obliterated from existence “through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb. 10:10) I can’t
understand how I can be so painfully aware of my sin, yet at the same time
it really doesn’t exist – but I believe it, and I’m glad
it’s that way, for a believer walks by faith and not by sight. I like
God’s view of me, as perfect in Christ, for He sees things as they really
are.
- Brian DuFour
*****
GIVING
The average person who gives money, gifts, or charity may think that this
gift of whatever he gives should be regarded as LOSS, certainly not called
ASSETS nor INVESTMENTS, nor GAIN. This is NOT SO! Gifts, money, and alms given
to others is no more loss than the seed planted by a farmer is loss. Anything
given to others in the name of Christ, for the glory of our Lord, is not loss
but gain in every way. Our Lord said in Luke 6:38, “Give and it shall
be given to you.” This is saying that God uses the same container or
measure for His gifts to us, as we use to give to others. The more generous
the farmer is with seed, the greater the harvest; and the more generous and
loving and giving we are enabled to be, the greater the blessing. No! Giving
is not loss, but great gain. A person may say, “I can’t afford
to give.” If we have an understanding of the grace of God, we can’t
afford NOT to give.
- Pastor Henry Mahan