A BIT OF HUMOR

You have just received the Amish Virus.

Since we do not have electricity nor computers, you are on the honor 
system. 
Please delete all of your files.

I thanketh thee,

Abe

[forwarded by Autumn Mott]

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

I just wish once someone would call me "Sir" without adding, "You're making a 
scene."

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

MIKEYSFUNIES

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ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE DAY

The Benefits of Salvation: Saved From God’s Wrath

Romans 5:9-10

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

[Today we return to "The Benefits of Salvation" series with "Part 7: Saved from God's Wrath."]

What is the “wrath” Paul mentions?

It is the wrath of Zephaniah 1:15: “That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness…”

The wrath of Psalm 21:9: “At the time of your appearing you will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them.”

Jesus speaks about it in Luke 21:23: “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.”

All of which point to the final wrath and judgment of Revelation 11:18: “The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great — and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

In our passage today, Paul tells us we have been saved from God’s wrath. Yet He has not only saved us from the penalty of sin for the past, but also the power of sin in the present and the presence of sin in the future. The last two is what Paul speaks about when he says: “…how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

The seventh “Benefit of Salvation” is we are saved from God’s wrath by our faith and belief in Jesus.

Too often I see Christians focused on just what Christ’s death represents — forgiveness of sin. Although critical, I think Paul’s point today is to not forget the equally important power Jesus has given us through the resurrection: victory over sin in the present and the presence of sin in eternity. Have you considered the wholeness offered by Jesus’ sacrifice — for the past, present and future? How does this change your perspective regarding a battle you may be currently facing?

POCKETPOWER.ORG

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WHAT IS CORE: LOVE

by Phil Ware on January 13, 2013

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV).

We are on a journey to highlight, emphasize, make central, and live by What is Core. Yet this is not a quest to find something new… or novel… or faddish. There are plenty of those things out there.

We are NOT asking the question, “What is Core?” We are NOT hunting around for some secret hiding place where God, or previous church leaders, have hidden What is Core. It is not like this is something that has been hidden or hard to find in the Scriptures.

It’s just that we can get so busy with our lives, so busy with our ways of doing things, and so busy with our church stuff that we misplace What is Core and we begin to live life without what is most important, without what is the source of everything else important.

We begin to live on spiritual junk food — the latest book, the latest song, the latest idea, the latest video, the latest tweet, the latest forward; and all of these may be quite good, just not core. Before long, however, we are overweight with cool ideas that will quickly become passé and we find ourselves becoming spiritually sick because we have forgotten to eat what makes us strong, whole, and gives us life… real life.

So we come back today and remind ourselves that LOVE is CORE!

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Ooo! Wow! Cool! Amazing! Shocking!

NOT!

I mean, come on, everyone knows love is CORE, right? God is love! Love makes the world go ’round. Love is a many splendored things. Love is the bomb. Love is the real deal. Make love and not war. Love. Love. Love. Who can quarrel about love being important, being core?

The problem is, we’ve said the word “love” so much, that saying it is important doesn’t really mean much because love is a sloppy word, at least as we use it.

• I love Dr. Pepper.
• I love my wife.
• I love Mexican food.
• I love my grandkids.
• I love being outdoors.
• I love God.
• I love the Dallas Cowboys… oops, uh, scratch that one! I love the Texas Rangers.
• I love my parents.
• I love Duck Dynasty.

What a sloppy word, this word love is. At least as we use it.

So why is love CORE? And if love is What is Core, how do we understand what love means… I mean surely, it has to mean more than loving refried beans or chocolate pie?

Well here is our Bible passage that reminds us that love is CORE. It claims it. It defines it.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40).

This is the GREATEST commandment … or really greatest two commandments. Found again & again in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. We are to love God and love our neighbor. This is What is Core!

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Great. Yeah. I get it. Love is CORE! But again, what do we mean when we say the word “love”? We’ve already said that love is a sloppy word, so what does the word “love” mean?

If you know Victor Hugo’s story, “Les Miserables”, then you know the story begins with a man, Jean Valjean who has served 19 hard, brutal, oppressive, dehumanizing years in a French prison doing the hardest manual labor imaginable. He was sent there for stealing a little food to help his sister feed her starving children.

Upon his parole release, no one will house him or give him food, until he knocks on the door of a church and The Bishop, much to the surprise of everyone else in the house and also to Valjean, offers to not only feed him, but also give him a place to stay. During the night, wrestling with nightmares, bitterness, and self-condemnation, Valjean gets up and steals all the silver silverware. Yet in the middle of his heist, The Bishop comes in to check on the noise and catches Valjean in his thievery. Valjean hits him and knocks The Bishop to the ground, then runs off with the silver.

The next day, French soldiers search his knapsack because they recognize Valjean’s clothing and haircut as that of a convict. When they find the silver in his knapsack, they return him and the silver to The Bishop. While expecting The Bishop to press charges, he instead asks Valjean why he did not take the silver candlesticks which are worth so much more than the silverware, since he had “given” Valjean everything. He orders that the candlesticks be given to Valjean and that he be released because he has wasted so much time.

When the soldiers leave, Valjean is stumped… dumbfounded… and speechless at first. Then he asked, “Why?” Why would The Bishop forgive his thievery and his violence? Why would he even offer him more to begin his new life out of prison? And The Bishop, clearly living out the character of Christ — love your neighbor, love those who persecute you, love your enemies, and even turn the other cheek to those who abuse you — says in essence, “I have bought your pardon and your soul with this silver. You have a new life. Now go and do the same for others.”

The rest of Valjean’s life, he lives as a new man — he lives by the principles he learned from The Bishop and his forgiving, risking, all-encompassing love.

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13).

You see, love turns the other cheek. Love pays the price for others sins. Love bears injustice so that justice can be served and grace be given. Love risks forgiving when forgiveness isn’t deserved. Love makes us new people!

The Bible says it this way.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. … For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:6-10).

Notice the power of love. This is what we were: powerless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God. Not a great resumé for heaven! We were a bunch of Jean Valjeans. Dangerous criminals with nothing but a yellow passport defining us as dangerous, unchangeable, and hopelessly flawed.Then Jesus died for our sins… was buried because of our sins… raised to life to defeat the power of our sins and give us new life… because he LOVES us!

And now, we are sons and daughters of God. We are brothers and sisters of one another. We are princes and princesses of the King of glory!

That is the power of love! That is why love is CORE!

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13).

But we must notice two things about this kind of love.

First, this kind of love is so much more than just a feeling… a fleeting infatuation… a surging lustful passion. Yes, it is as powerful as those things, and sometimes feels like those things… but it is much more tenacious, forgiving, and enduring.

This kind of love is ALWAYS demonstrated! Let me give you an example.

For over twenty years, I have challenged people to find me a passage that just says God loves us… that he has feelings of love for us. And every time someone says, “I found it, we have looked around and seen how God demonstrated that love… how with God love is always a verb and never just a noun! The most famous example is, ‘For God so loved the world… ‘! See, I found it!”.

Yes, it does say God loves the world… that he loves us. But look more closely at what it says: “For God so loved the world, that he GAVE…” (John 3:16). God always defines his love by his actions!

Now some folks want to define love by the Greek words — agape, philia, eros, storge. The winner, of course, is always agape — the kind of love and the word you often find in the New Testament. Interestingly, however, when the New Testament was written, agape was used pretty much like our word for love is used — very sloppy, and used for everything from loving the first century equivalent of Dr. Pepper and fried chicken to loving one’s children and spouse! Then something happened to the definition of agape. It was tied to what God did through Jesus by those who wrote about Jesus. Suddenly, agape meant a whole lot more.

You see, God defines love by what he did and what he does! And when he makes love our CORE, he calls us to do the same:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. …This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 3:16 & 1 John 4:9-11).

What would have happened to Jean Valjean if The Bishop had said, “I love you man!” but never offered him a place to stay, food to eat, then turned the other cheek and forgave his violence and thievery to defend his innocence to set him free? Love is what we do with our passion and compassion!

So love, and its actions, are costly and messy because it’s so much more than a feeling… it’s real, gut level, hands on, action to redeem and bless another at our cost!

And these remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love! (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Second, our love doesn’t come first. Love doesn’t begin with us. Love is far more than mere obedience to love God and love others. Jesus died for our sins…

Say that out loud: Jesus died for our sins…

Our love is always our response to God, who demonstrated love to us, first.

Our love is rooted in Jesus, and his sacrificial love for us when we were unworthy and unlovable.

We love, because God first loved us! (1 John 4:19).

We were loved overwhelmingly, sacrificially, undeservedly when we were powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies!

So when we love God with all that we are, and when we love our neighbor as ourselves, our impact on others brings about new people… a new Jean ValJean… to new life!

And it brings us the reminder of who we are and what we are about and why we are here and What is Core: Jesus and loving God and loving others like Jesus!

Which brings me back to the questions of last week:

1. Do I believe this?

1. Do I let this change who I am?

1. Do I let this guide me to what is important in life, in fellowship, in worship, and in doctrine?

How can I not, when I’ve been loved so graciously by God?

http://www.heartlight.org/articles/201301/20130113_core_love.html

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PSALMS 100:3 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

—Psalm 100:3

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

God made us. While we were in our mother’s womb, he made us with his loving care with a purpose for life and a promise to be with us every step of the way. God cares for us, much better than even the very best shepherd cares for his sheep. So let’s live as those who know our Leader, Creator, and King! Let’s display his character, share his grace, extend his mercy, and offer his forgiveness. Let’s show that we are his!

Prayer…

I am truly thankful, dear LORD, that you are God. Thank you for being my Shepherd, my Father, and my Hero. Please help me genuinely display your character and kindness to those around me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today’s Verse Illustrated

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi/todaysverse.cgi

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ROSE AND LINDA’S JOURNAL GODLY HUSBANDS/GODLY WIFES

He was saved, but he knew he wasn’t living right.  He was married to a Christian women, they were raising their three children in the Faith of Jesus Christ.  She always lifted her husband up in prayer as did others that knew him.  He said “she shut me out, she told me no” then he explained she had said no sex.  He asked her why, and her answer changed his life.  She told him “I have the Lord, and He is enough”, she went on to explain “I want us to be right, for us to be together.  I don’t want to be with you when you aren’t right with the Lord.”  As he thought about her answer, he realized, he did not want his wife just for sex.  He too wanted it to be right.  For it to be right, he needed to be right with the Lord. 

 

They had lived together for years.  She found the Lord and he found Him right behind her.  They knew living together was wrong and they decided to get married.  Talking to them you knew they loved the Lord and each other.  But, he prayed and asked God to increase his love for her.  Within four months of getting married two of her older children moved back home, the daughter expecting.  They were already raising a grandchild by another of her daughters. With the two older children came their father who wanted to visit his children [her ex- husband], a man who had caused problems in the past between the husband and wife.  The husband sought God in how to handle this, he did not want this man in his home.  He had been out of work a few months, though seeking a job, had found none.  God told the husband to have compassion on his enemy, to open his door to him, and he did.  Within 24 hours of being obedient to God’s call for compassion for this man the husband was called for a job.  In showing compassion for others God had blessed him, and increased his love for his wife.

 

We never know what God is going to put before us.  We don’t know the traps we can walk into our selves.  These Godly women are blessed to have Godly men, and these Godly men are equality blessed to have Godly women. 

 

God tells us what He has put together let no man put asunder. When God puts a marriage together, He picks couples that will know in times of trials who to talk to to make it right, Lord God Almighty.

 

God Bless

 

recj/LJG

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IN A WAITING PLACE FOR HEAVEN

IN A WAITING PLACE FOR HEAVEN

Peter was in his late fifties and had been chronically ill for a long while. He was the kind of person who never complained, learned early to take one day at a time and found joy in even the smallest things.

He was cared for by his wife of many years, who had not planned on caring for an “invalid,” as she called him, and who did not easily hide her discontent. I did not know whether Peter just naturally had a peaceful demeanor or if he had become that way by virtue of his illness and his circumstances. He seemed, on the most difficult days, to be able to retreat inside of himself with his God and find rest there.

Slowly but surely his energy and appetite were ebbing away due to his illness. He was declining, just a little bit more each time I saw him, and he seemed contented and unafraid.

He was a man of few words, and you understood more about him by simply holding his hand than by talking. The silences said a thousand things beautifully.

One day while we were visiting together, I found us whispering to each other. When I said, “Peter, why are we whispering?” he replied, “Because I am in a waiting place, not there yet but not here with you anymore. It is very peaceful here and very beautiful.” He smiled, squeezed my hand and closed his eyes. Those were the last words we spoke together; Peter died later that night.

I am more than certain that God was already showing him glimpses of his new home.

…..By Trudy Harris by way of Cup O’Cheer (cheer316kim@sc.rr.com) and “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net

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THE COST OF HATRED

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart…. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.” - Hannah More

I know several people who would rather hold a grudge than forgive someone else. These people are unable to look past an action that they believe is unjustifiable and see the people behind the actions, unable to consider what forces might have been at work to cause someone else to do what he or she has done.

But Hannah adds an interesting element here, one that intrigues me. She talks of the “expense” of anger and the “cost” of hatred, two things that I never really had thought about deeply. What do these words mean? How might I find out what the expense and cost are to me. And more importantly, how can I avoid these unnecessary and probably very expensive expenditures in my life?

Forgiveness definitely can erase anger and hatred, as long as it is sincere and not put on as a show. Saying “I forgive you” and truly forgiving them in my heart are two different things, of course, and the effects on me as a person are likewise different. If my forgiveness is not sincere, then I continue to pay the cost of anger and resentment. And have no doubt–the cost is to the person who has not forgiven, and not to the person who would be the recipient of sincere forgiveness.

“The economy of the heart.” We can give our hearts a true gift when we forgive someone, for the heart will no longer be burdened by our negative feelings towards another human being.

Questions to consider:

What do you consider to be the most dominant costs of anger and hatred?

Why might some people prefer to hold on to anger rather than practice forgiveness?

What are some ways we can be sure that our forgiveness is sincere?

For further thought:

“If we can forgive everyone, regardless of what he or she may have done, we nourish the soul and allow our whole being to feel good. To hold a grudge against anyone is like carrying the devil on your shoulders. It is our willingness to forgive and forget that casts away such a burden and brings light into our hearts, freeing us from many ill feelings against our fellow human beings.” - Sydney Banks

http://ejaife.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/cost-of-hatred/?blogsub=confirmed#blog_subscription-2

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PSALMS 118:20-21 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

– Psalm 118:20-21 (NIV)

Today’s commentary
by Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.orgThe gate of the temple was a source of comfort for the psalmist, because it was the entryway to God’s presence. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”, He was painting the same picture with a twist. Jesus was the righteous One who entered the gate of the LORD for us. When we have such a great mediator between God and humanity in Jesus Christ we can be assured that God hears us. Thanks be to God!

DAILYBIBLEVERSE.ORG

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ROSE AND LINDA’S JOURNAL TEARS FOR AN ANSWER

To look at them you know they are poor.  Mother and daughter. Their clothes are clean but old and out of style, the shoes ran over.  The Mother has a brace on one leg that was probably given to her years ago. Their only ride is the church van, but they never miss it.

At Wednesday night Bible study they have a speaker who teaches for 20 minutes and then they split into small groups to discuss the teaching.  Afterwards two from each group would go before the entire group and say what they got out of the class.

The lesson that week was on the Love of God.  As they went around the group each person gave a short answer, then they came to the Mother.  Tears were streaming down her face, she was having trouble getting any words out, finally she mumbled so quietly through the tears ‘Love, God loves us.’

In another group the daughters voice was cracking.  Her words were coming out softly, she could barely be heard.  You could see it was taking all she had to slowly say ‘God loves us, we cares for us’.

More Wednesday nights have passed since that night.  Many have taught, in the group interesting answers have been give,wonderful testimonies have been heard, insight has taken root, growth abounds.  But,  No body, not a single person has expressed God’s love as eloquently as these two.

To have so little in life, they are by far richer then many.

God Bless

recj/LJG

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

Tragedy Into Blessing

Years ago in Scotland, the Clark family had a dream. Clark and his wife worked and saved, making plans for their nine children and themselves to travel to the United States. It had taken years, but they had finally saved enough money and had gotten passports and reservations for the whole family on a new liner to the United States.

The entire family was filled with anticipation and excitement about their new life. However, seven days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy but hung a yellow sheet on the Clarks’ front door. Because of the possibility of rabies, they were being quarantined for fourteen days.

The family’s dreams were dashed. They would not be able to make the trip to America as they had planned. The father, filled with disappointment and anger, stomped to the dock to watch the ship leave – without the Clark family. The father shed tears of disappointment and cursed both his son and God for their misfortune.

Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland – the mighty Titanic had sunk. The unsinkable ship had sunk, taking hundreds of lives with it. The Clark family was to have been on that ship, but because the son had been bitten by a dog, they were left behind in Scotland.

When Mr. Clark heard the news, he hugged his son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives and turning what he had felt was a tragedy into a blessing.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

…..”The Daily Encourager” (dlangerfeld@harrisburgbaptist.org) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net

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