THERE IS A handicapped person in your future:  you...!

Handicapped persons are dealing in the present moment with what you and I will have to deal with later.  Sooner or later each of us will become handicapped in one way or another.  Sooner or later each of us will have to deal with one or several major losses in our health.  Then we will travel down the same path that the handicapped person currently walks.  Then we will know their pain, frustration and sufferings.  Perhaps if we could learn from them now, whatever our age, we would be better prepared for our own future.

Handicapped persons teach us that life is more than a body.  They demonstrate the truth...that the things that make us truly human and truly divine are not physical qualities.  They are qualities of the Spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, meekness, peacemaking, purity of heart, mercy, righteousness, and suffering for the right cause (cf. Galatians 5:22; Matthew 5:3-10).  Neither Paul nor Jesus mentioned physical beauty or even physical health.  The qualities that save us do not include the shape of our bodies.

Handicapped persons also can teach us how to suffer and how to rise above bodily limitations.  Sometimes pain cannot be fixed, nor can all limitations be conquered.  Most of us will have to deal with pain and limitations, at first in minor ways and later in major ways.  We will learn new meanings for the word "courage."  Either we will rise above our limitations and learn to live with them or we shall sink to new lows of despair, bitterness and helplessness.  The choice depends largely on the strength of our courage.

In a sense, then, a handicap or a loss of health can become a gift.  It never starts out that way.  Initially it is a horrible loss.  If through the loss, however, we can learn to nurture our spiritual qualities and learn the art of suffering well, then we will have transformed our loss into a gain.  Will will have risen above our loss precisely by not letting it defeat us, but by letting it propel us forward into a more advanced stage of human existence.  R. Scott Sullender, Losses in Later Life, 3

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Mike Benson

"Not Saved By Works"

By Mark Lindley on 8 March 2017 | 

The Bible teaches that the foundation of salvation is the grace of God. Grace is often defined as “the unmerited favor of God.” There is nothing one can do to earn grace or merit salvation from sin. The Scriptures teach that sinners are saved by “grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8), and that eternal life is a “gift” from God (Romans 6:23).

            However, some interpret such verses to mean that there is “nothing” one must do to be saved, and that any “work” a man might attempt to do to be saved cancels out grace. Is this true? Does a sinner have to “do” anything to receive the forgiveness of sins?

            It is interesting that those who preach the loudest that there is “nothing” one must do to be saved, frequently tell sinners what they must “do” to be saved. While preaching there is “nothing” one must do, many often say, “The only thing you have to ‘do’ is believe.” They might even continue by preaching that a sinner must “receive Jesus,” “believe on the Lord,” “call on the name of the Lord,” “trust the Lord as your personal Savior,” “say the Sinner’s Prayer,” “confess Jesus as Lord,” “repent and turn to Jesus” and/or other things one must “do.”

            The inconsistency of such a doctrine is easily observed. Think about this statement: “You don’t have to do anything to be saved, the only thing you have to do is….” Now, regardless of what is said next, the speaker has contradicted himself. On the one hand, he has said that there is nothing one must do, but then he proceeds to tell his audience what sinners must “do”!

            The confusion results from an attempt to avoid the command to be baptized. In the minds of some, it seems the only “work” is baptism. Some preachers do not recognize believing, repenting, confessing, saying the Sinner’s Prayer, receiving Jesus or a hundred other things as works. It seems, to them, that only “baptism” is a work.

            The truth is that sinners must “do” something to be saved. Even those who insist there is nothing to “do” contradict themselves by telling sinners to believe. Jesus identified belief as a work: “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28-29). Notice that Jesus applied the term “work” to “believe.”

            It is rather ironic that baptism is never even referred to in the Bible as a “work.” Yet, it seems that some are determined to label it a “work of man’s righteousness” and discard it from the plan of salvation.

            Either a sinner must meet conditions to be saved or not. If a sinner must meet conditions—and essentially all agree that conditions must be met—then, it stands to reason that sinners must meet “all” conditions, including baptism. Let us be consistent! “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

A worthless tree

“Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree withered” (Matthew 21:18-19 NIV).

This incident may seem a bit strange and quite harsh to us. It was early morning and Jesus was travelling back to Jerusalem with his disciples. He was hungry – after all, it was breakfast time. They saw a fig tree and went over to it, but there were no figs on it. So Jesus, basically, cursed the tree: “May you never bear fruit again!” Why did Jesus do this?

If we lived in an area where there are fig trees, this would probably make more sense to us. These fig trees produced leaves when they had fruit that was ripe. This incident took place in the spring and normally fig trees did not have fruit on them yet. Yet this fig tree looked like it should have fruit on it – the leaves were there. Yet, when they went up to the tree, there was nothing: no figs whatsoever. It was a deceptive tree.

Some have suggested that this incident was a live-action parable, with the tree representing the Jewish nation of Jesus’ day. They looked to be a healthy tree, with all the signs of life – the sacrifices were being offered in the temple and people were worshiping God. But all was not well – there was no fruit. As a nation, they were not producing fruit in their lives.

Later in this chapter Jesus told a parable about a landowner trying to collect the fruit he was owed from tenants taking care of his vineyard (Matthew 21:33-41). He sent servants to collect what was due and they were beaten, killed, and stoned. Finally he sent his son, thinking they would respect him, but instead they killed him, too, thinking they could then control the vineyard. The landowner then got rid of the original tenants and rented the vineyard to others who would give him his share of the fruit.

Did this not well represent the Jews? God had sent prophets to his people throughout their history, the last being John. Some were beaten, some stoned, and some (including John) were killed. God finally sent his son – and Jesus was within a few days of being publicly executed. What would happen? God would take his kingdom, represented by the vineyard, from the Jews and give it to another group who would produce fruit – the Gentiles.

Although this can be seen to be historical and what happened to the Jews and the good news of Jesus finally being proclaimed to Gentiles, there is a more personal application that we need to make.

Are we producing fruit for God? Are our lives producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)? Are we being led by the Spirit or are our lives producing the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). If we aren’t producing the Spirit’s fruit, we have a warning: “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

Let us not be a worthless Christian but one who is producing the fruit of Spirit. Let us not just look like we are faithful Christians, like the fig tree which looked like it had fruit, but actually be producing God’s fruit in our lives.

What kind of fruit are our lives producing?

Jon Galloway

GODLINESS

      “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness” (II Pet. 3:11) 

Peter, in this section of his second letter is discussing the  total and complete destruction of the world and that we should be looking “for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”  We need to know, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”  (II Pet. 3:10).  To be ready for this day we must be found “in all holy living and godliness”.  To do so, to be ready, we must understand what “Godliness” is.

By Definition:  “Godliness comes from the Greek word “eusebia” and is used in the New Testament to express the idea of inner piety or spirituality.  W. E. Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words defines this word as, ‘piety’, which, characterized by a God-ward attitude, does that which is well pleasing to Him”.  Godliness is the God-ward attitude of reverence and respect.  Along with the desire of doing what is pleasing to God.

How do we know what is Godliness?  The apostle gives us this answer in II Peter 1:3  “…seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and  godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue.”  Where there is no obedience to the truth, God’s Word (John 17:17) there can be no true Godliness or spirituality!

James points out that Godliness is not what man thought it to be. “If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them Go in peace be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; body; what doth it profit?”           Rather he tells us that Godliness is Doing:  “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself       unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27).  In this verse he also tells us that Godliness is Keeping oneself unspotted from the world.  Christians have been “called out” of the world, and are to separate themselves from sin.  (II Cor. 6:17; 7:1).

Christians (Godliness) are a people… Characterized by service…Motivated by love…Dedicated to warfare against evil…Devoted to spreading the gospel.

THE FRUIT OF GODLINESS IS SEEN…

A Godly Person Seeks God On His Terms.  Cornelius was called a devout man because he sought to please God (Acts 10:2).  The word “devout” is a form of the word for “Godliness.”  That Cornelius was devout can be seen in his response to the preaching of the  gospel.  (Acts 10:44-48).

A Godly Person Worships God in ‘Spirit and in Truth’ (John 4:24).  Whenever one follows God’s will on how to worship Him, then one is being Godly.  Worship is our attempt to give something of ourselves to God.  It is the ‘fruit of our lips’ (Heb. 13:15) the presenting of our bodies as a ‘living sacrifice’  (Rom. 12:1).

A Godly Person Shows Respect and Reverence for God by Studying and Obeying His Word.  Oftentimes we are told that our response to God’s Word is directly related to our relationship with God.  For example Jesus said,  “If you love me, keep my commandments”  (John 14:15).  To respect God we must respect His Word.

A Godly Person Is One Who Acts Properly, Reacts Properly, And Leaves No Doubt In Anyone’s Mind That He/She Is A Child Of God. God is seen in this person from the inside out and from the outside in.

By Frank Briscoe          

Evaluating a hymn

The first surprise might be that we should evaluate a hymn at all. Yet why should we not? If our hymns are to be sung not only with spirit but with our minds (1 Corinthians 14:15), then we should think about the songs we sing. If our hymns are to allow “the word of Christ [to] dwell in [us] richly as [we] teach and admonish” each other (Colossians 3:16), then we should think about what our hymns teach.

So how ought we to evaluate a song? What questions might we ask of it?

• What category is this song? Can you categorize the song? Is it a prayer set to music, an anthem of praise, one where we “speak to one another,” or encourage one another.
• Are the words God-centered? We could ask whether the words are God-centered, mention Christ or the Holy Spirit. It would be hard to call it a spiritual song if it does not mention one of these three.
• Is it drawn from Scripture? As you read the words of the song, are you reminded of a passage or passages of Scripture by these words? Identify the passage, and if the hymnbook is yours, write it in the margin of the song. If it does not remind you of a Bible passage, that might be a sign it is not spiritual writing.
• Does the music serve the words? Does the music serve the words well? How does the music help the words? Some songs are contemplative, such as Isaac Watts’ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Others are victorious, such as Fanny Crosby’s Praise Him! Praise Him! Some songs have both elements, such as Robert Lowey’s Low in the Grave He Lay. In this song, the verses’ solemn words (Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my savior”) are followed by a triumphant chorus (“Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes”). As you recall, the solemn music of the verse fits those words, while the music of the chorus soars higher and higher as the thoughts rise.
• What is the song’s key phrase? Is there a phrase that really stands out in this song? Sometimes there is a line that makes a particular song sublime. I think of the Norwegian hymn Then Sings My Soul when the author notes: “And when I think/ That God his son not sparing/ Sent him to die/ I scarce can take it in” or Brumley’s classic line: “And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

If we simply asked these questions, we will have done something people rarely do; we will have thought about the songs we sing. Don’t you think the spiritual well-being of our congregation deserves at least that much effort?

Stan Mitchell

He is the Word of God!

The Bright & Morning Star (Rev22:16) Awakening

Brightness of His Glory-Heb1:3

Chief among 10k-Song5:10

Day Star-2Pt1:19

Dayspring from On High-Lk1:78

Forerunner-Heb6:20

Light of Israel-Isa10:17

Light of the Morning-2Sam23:4

Morning Star-Rev2:28

Root of David-Rev22:16

Star out of Jacob-Nm24:17

Sun & Shield-Ps84:11

Tender Grass-2Sam23:4

Word of God-Rev19:13

He is the bread of life!

The Bread of Life (Jn6:35) Nourishment

Bread of God-Jn6:33

Bread of Life-Jn6:35

Christ Our Life-Col3;4

God of my life-Ps42:8

Grain Offering-Lev2:1-10

Grain of Wheat-Jn12:24

He Who Lives-Rev1:18

Hidden Manna-Rev2:17

Living Bread-Jn6:51

Manna-Ex16:31

Portion-Ps73:26; 119:57

Portion of My Inheritance-Ps16:5

Prince of Life-Acts3:15

Resurrection & the Life-Jn11:25

True Bread from Heaven-Jn6:32

Way, the Truth, & the Life-jn14:6