ROSE AND LINDA’S JOURNAL SUNDAY EDITORIAL JUNE 2013

LJG and I are constantly on guard for untruths.  We do a lot of research but even sometimes things will slip by us.  Case in point:  when I am hard into a research I will use the Internet, books and always the Bible.  At times I will see something that looks interesting and factual and print it out for later referencing.  This is what happened with our study on the Holy Spirit.  I printed out about 5 articles to read later.  One stood out as it had the nine gifts listed by Paul in Corinthians with an explanation of each gift.  As I began to read I saw the mistakes and lies, what appeared to be good was in fact not.

We always strive to present our readers with the most factual data we can put together.  There are many reliable sources out here.  But sometimes we do run into things like this.  The reason we do these sites is to get you the reader to question what you believe and why you believe it.  To look at the traditions that many churches have built themselves on instead of or including the Word of God.  We have been witnesses to way to many churches that are more show than scripture.

It is easy for us to see why Jesus got angry and turned over the tables in the temple.  We have seen new clothes, hats, shoes, complete outfits sold inside churches.  We have attended churches where the ceremony’s went on so long after 4 hours and still no sermon we have left.  We have seen speakers with tight revealing clothes that left nothing to the imagination, besides the fact it was an older much endowed women. Let us not forget men with to tight pants behind the pulpit.  Yes we have pretty much seen it all.  We have read a lot of pure trash, pure twisted lies,all in the Name of Jesus.

So yes we do caution you to not read just anything pertaining to the Bible.  We read and proof read everything we personally put on these sites and yes sometimes we do make mistakes, we are human.  But we are also willing to step up to the plate and say wait a minute let us correct ourselves.

We have had people question us, and that is what we desire for you to question, to seek after God.  To read and study for yourselves.  In all our years if I am correct LJG has had to remove one person for vile comments on all our sites.

We encourage you always to Pray seek after the Lord.  To learn and know His ways in all you do.  We understand it can be hard to live in this world and not be a part of it.  We are reminded of the man who asked could he take some of the dirt to place under his knees when he had to bow beside his king in worship to other gods.

God Bless you each and everyone.

We are yours in Christ Jesus who lived, died, and arose for us all.

recj/LJG

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A BIT OF HUMOR (VERY FITTING FOR OUR LEADERS OF TODAY)

Political Values

A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner. He was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited. “I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person to enter my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss’ wife, and taken illegal drugs.

“I was appalled. But as the days went on I knew that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”

Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived, full of apologies at being late. He immediately began to make his presentation. “I’ll never forget the first day our parish priest arrived,” said the politician. “In fact, I had the honor of being the first one to go to him in confession.”

…..Docs Daily Chuckle (pkaine@roadrunner.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (ChristianVoices@att.net)

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

The Promise of Christ

Romans 9:4g

…and the promises.

The promises — the great Abrahamic promises, successively unveiled, have had their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:16: “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ.”

However, there are still more promises to be found in the pages of the Old Testament. For example, there will be a time when the Jews will lead the nations of the world, there will be a universal kingdom and a world King (Jesus), and throughout the earth, government will flow from the city of Jerusalem. Those promises are still there and God intends to fulfill them. Acts 26:6-7: [Paul speaking] “And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night.”

In Joshua 1:2, God spoke to the children of Israel: “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the Israelites.” Let me ask you a question: “Have you ever felt the land on the other side of the Jordan River belonged to you?” I never have. Yet the Jews have an unchangeable and unalterable attachment to the land. Why? Because God Himself gave it to them, singularly. It’s an illustration of the point Paul makes in our passage today — just like the land on the other side of the Jordan river — God will faithfully deliver upon the promises He has made to us both individually and collectively.

God has offered to each of us the greatest gift of all — Himself! He sacrificed His own Son that we might live. Have you received His gift? Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If you have not, pray with me today: “Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe in you and that your word is true. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he died on the cross so that I may now have forgiveness for my sins and eternal life. I know that without you in my heart my life is meaningless. I believe that you, God, raised Him from the dead. Jesus, please forgive me and come into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior today. I give you my life and ask you to take full control from this moment on; I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.” If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, please let us know and we will provide you with additional information.

POCKETPOWER.ORG

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STOP JUDGING AND CONDEMING BECOME AN ENCOURAGER

STOP JUDGING AND CONDEMING BECOME AN ENCOURAGER

GROWING UP IN GOD’S GRACE ENCOURAGING EACH OTHER (PHOTO BY PASTOR DAVIS)

We are all CHILDREN OF GOD, weather we are Believers are Non-Believers. God allows the Sun to rise and shine its face on all of us.  We are all neighbors, relatives, friends and co-workers regardless of what part of the world we may live in; we live together in this world under the authority of God, and God tells us to judge not, less you be judged.  So I ask, “Why is it so difficult for us to live in peace and harmony with one another without always JUDGING AND CONDEMING ONE ANOTHER?”

Please understand this one truth, and that is, there is always a right way and a wrong way of doing anything.  When we lift a brother are sister up and provide them with a word of encouragement instead of sticking a knife into them, God will bless you abundantly.  God has given you the power to make thechoice, how you use that power will determine your destiny in this world.  Now listen to what Godcommands you to do.

He says, “Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, and his Royal Rule, which takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?” (James 4:11-12 MSG)

While a man is involved in sin he will condemn others who are likewise involved and the deeper and greater his sin the more severe will be his condemnation of others.  It is only when a man begins to sorrow for his sin, and so to rise above it into the clearer light of purity and understanding, that he ceases from condemning others and learns to sympathies with them.

The truly good and wise man condemns no one; having put away all blind passion and selfishness he lives in the calm regions of love and peace, and understands all modes of sin, with their consequent sufferings and sorrows.  Enlightened and awakened, freed from all selfish bias, and seeing men as they are, his heart responds in holy sympathy with all.  Should any condemn, abuse, or slander him he throws around them the kindly protection of his sympathy, seeing the ignorance which prompts them so to act, and knowing that they alone will suffer for their wrong acts.

Now in closing, I will leave you with God’s final word in hopes that it will lift you up out of your sinful nature of Judging and Condemning your fellowman.  Here is what God has to say to you, “So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”  (James 4:7-10 MSG)

Now I say to you “ENCOURAGE SOMEONE IN THE LORD TODAY.”   Think globally as you work locally in your church and community to help bring about a change in someone’s life this day.  We minister to you from a position of peace, purpose, power and prosperity.

PASTOR DAVIS/MASTER TEACHR

http://vineandbranchworldministries.com/2013/06/06/stop-judging-and-condeming-become-an-encourager/

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PROVERBS 18:21 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

– Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)

Today’s commentary
by Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace

NYC.orgThere is an old saying, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The Scripture tells us that saying is wrong—words can maim us far more than even a broken bone. Our words have the power to lift someone up or haunt someone for the rest of their life, so be careful what you say. Your words go much further than you realize.

http://www.thedailybibleverse.org/

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ROSE AND LINDA’S JOURNAL GOD IS NOT COLOR BLIND

Doubt it? Then just take a look around you. What do you see? Trees of all shades of green, beautiful flowers of many different shapes, sizes and colors. Colors so bright and some not so bright. It does take our breath away sometimes.

Now another type of color I would like to talk about for just a few minutes. Skin color. We are taught, well a lot of us were, from early childhood that God loves all the little children of the world, red, yellow, black and white. Everyone of us who have accepted God as their personal Savior are His children (Romans 8:16). So, then, why do we have so much trouble with our skin color? You think we aren’t all going to the same Heaven? Think God loves one color more than the other? Where in the Bible does it say that? Is God going to have separate parts of Heaven for the different colors of skin? Well, being I have never been to Heaven, yet, I can’t honestly say, but this I do believe, if God was going to have us all separated then He would have said so. I know in the OLD TESTAMENT God told the people not to enter into marriage with certain people. When the people disobeyed, as you know people will do, some of those places were made barren. There are places that today will not grow anything. But I can’t find where Jesus said anything about color of skin. Can you?

Moses married an Ethiopian woman. When Aaron and Miriam got upset about it, what did the Lord do? First of all He took the side of Moses. Second of all, Aaron was not permitted to enter into the promise land either, and He gave Miriam leprosy, of which He later took off her thanks to Moses asking God to do so. Could this not be telling us what was coming in the later world? Couldn’t this be saying it is alright in the sight of God?

Have you ever stopped to think about the color of skin Jesus had? Well, I guess not. Jesus was dark skinned, brown or whatever color you might like to call it. Anyway, He is not white skinned as we see white. You know what God told John to write about Heaven? He saw a new Heaven coming down…(Rev. 21:2). God showed John a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal coming out the throne of God and out of the Lamb ( surely you know that the Lamb is Jesus). On either side of the river was the tree of life (Rev 22:1-5).

So, now I ask you where is the tree of life? In the Garden of Eden. Where is the Garden of Eden? Where the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers originally met. Where is the place the new Heaven coming down?

We need to all get down off our high horses and think about all this. Get in the Bible, see what God and the Lamb is telling us to do. Live only by God’s instructions and stop all this hate and being lead around by our noses by moral men. There is no moral man alive that can save us or would do for us what God and Jesus has and will continue to do if we only allow Them to do so.

Remember what the greatest commandment was? LOVE… So let’s love each other, red, yellow, black or white.

God’s blessings to each of you,
LJG

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A BIT OF HUMOR

The church gossip, and self-appointed arbiter of the church's morals, kept 
sticking her nose into other people's business. Several church members were 
unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their 
silence. 

She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being 
drunk after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town's only bar one 
afternoon. 

She commented to George on a Sunday morning, in the company of many, that 
everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing. 

George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He 
didn't explain, defend, or deny; he said nothing. 

Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of her house and 
left it there all night.

============================

NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

=======================================

MIKEYSFUNNIES.COM

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

FOR ALL THOSE WHO SERVE ON COMMITTEES

There’s an old joke in church circles that says that a camel is really a horse designed by a committee. It makes for a good laugh, but if you stop and think about it, it could be a real improvement if the purpose was to get across the desert. I think we should all be very grateful to those who serve on committees for several reasons.

Committees save us time by evaluating possibilities and deciding what they believe to be the best course of action before they bring a recommendation. This often takes hours of research and discussion. Can you imagine how many business meetings it would take to make a decision at that rate of speed? Chances are that many opportunities would be completely missed before we could reach a consensus.

Another value is the knowledge brought to a committee that those who are serving because of their Occupations. Many times better information is obtained, and a better decision made because of information shared by these individuals.

Another value is that often times hurt feelings can be avoided simply by someone knowing a special need in another’s life that can safely be shared in a small group, but might be very embarrassing in an open meeting.

Also, much more of our time together can be shared in worship rather than in decision-making since much of the work has already been done for us.

To all of you who serve on committees, thank you for making our church a better place to worship.

…..Cup O’Cheer (cheer316@sc.rr.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (ChristianVoices@att.net)

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Untold Stories: Onesiphorus — The Refreshing Gift of Friendship

by Phil Ware on May 05, 2013

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:16 NIV).

At an earlier time, when the grizzled ol’ apostle Paul was in prison and when everyone was abandoning him and the faith because they were afraid to be known as his friend, one person steps in and is faithful to him. This person is named Onesiphorus, a guy not normally mentioned in the list of the Bible’s greatest heroes.

Onesiphorus makes the hard trip from Ephesus to Rome to serve Paul while the old apostle is in prison. He has to search long and hard until he finds Paul. Then, Onesiphorus visits Paul in prison, openly showing loyalty and relationship to this prisoner condemned to die for his faith. Pretty heroic in my book, and certainly powerfully important to the imprisoned apostle!

Onesiphorus is the story behind the big story in the last few years of the apostle’s life! He is the wind beneath the great apostle’s wings. He is the helper to get Paul past his heartache. Onesiphorus repeatedly goes to see Paul in prison and often refreshed Paul’s spirit and restored joy to the soul of this well-traveled dying servant of God.

Onesiphorus’ actions, along with Paul’s blessing of him, remind us of something Jesus promised:

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward (Matthew 10:42 NIV).

Onesiphorus is the cup of cool watered Paul needed! He refreshed Paul’s spirit in Jesus’ name! He helped the apostle hang on in a tough time when everyone else abandoned him. And because of Jesus’ promise and Paul’s blessing, we know how precious Onesiphorus is to God!

So often we look at our lives and don’t think we’ve done anything of significance for the Kingdom. I spoke a few days ago with a precious servant of God who has done so many important things to bless others. Yet, this precious sister in Christ had tears in her eyes as she talked about not having done anything great for the Kingdom.

I know better. Those she has brought food to in times of bereavement or illness know better. The ladies she has influenced and taught know better. Her husband knows better. Most importantly, the Lord knows better and will make sure she knows better when He returns and brings her home.

But how do we help her — and maybe you — know how precious you are to God?

Look at Onesiphorus! See his quiet and determined faithfulness. Notice how precious he was to Paul. Now think of how you have done something similar — on the surface not so big or important, but for those whom you served, it was a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name that refreshed the spirit of someone who needed grace. Now rejoice in knowing that Jesus has seen this… appreciates this… will not forget this… and will reward this!

And when the opportunity presents itself, let’s be like Onesiphorus again… faithfully serving and refreshing whether anyone notices or not, because we know that the Lord knows and has seen and is pleased and will reward!

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you(Matthew 6:4 NIV).

http://www.heartlight.org/articles/201305/20130505_onesiphorus.html

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EPHESIANS 3:17-19 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

Ephesians 3:17-19

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Thoughts on today’s verse

Love that surpasses knowledge. That’s very difficult to explain, but when you have loved your spouse for decades you experience what this means. When you love a child and do what you never dreamed you could do for another human being, you understand this phrase. And when you stand before God, adopted as a full heir of all his great riches, a full sibling to Jesus Christ the Lord, and know you are seen as holy, without reproach, and blameless, you begin to understand this phrase.

Prayer:

Holy and incredible God, help me to know in my soul the love that is greater than words and knowledge so that I may not only be like you, but that I may know you in experience just as I know you in faith. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

Visit heartlight.org

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