In the Bible, there was a man named Esau that gave up his whole birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of red pottage. To think that a man would give up such a big thing for something like a bowl of chili is absurd. It is amazing that without thinking things through, people give up their future, their marriage, their testimony, and so much more for a few minutes of satisfaction or pleasure.

One of the biggest lies of the Devil is that you need to give up whatever you need to in order to try to satisfy the flesh. He also gets us to believe that the flesh can be satisfied. The flesh can never be satisfied for very long. Easu got hungry again, but his birthright was already wasted. When you give in to the flesh, you will have those desires again.

Make sure you never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. Never give up something that is lasting for something that gives a few minutes of pleasure or satisfaction.

There was a cute song I heard about beer, so I thought I would give you a few of the words. You really need to hear the song for all of the effect, but I thought some might like to read one verse and the chorus.

They say it’s brewed in God’s country
And friend we don’t deny that it’s true.
They take God’s pure spring water
Turn it into that stinking Devil’s brew.

CHORUS:
But Bud, you’d be wiser to leave that slop alone.
It’s ruined many a man
And it’s wrecked many a home.
Bud, you’d be wiser to leave that slop alone.

There are two other verses, but there is not space to put them here. Besides, one verse and chorus is probably strong enough. The song does line up with the Bible. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

How do we turn our ear away from hearing the law? If the Bible is being preached at church and we do not go, then we are turning away our ear from the law. If we do not read the Bible, then we are turning away our ear from the law. Many people wonder why God doesn't answer their prayers. If they are not listening to God's Word, why should God listen to their prayers?

Everything may be going fine for you now, and you think you don't really need God to answer prayers for you. One day, you will need God to help you in a great way. Remember what this verse says, and let's all hear God's Word now, so we can have God hear us today.

God is very kind, patient, loving, caring and giving, but there is another side of Him. When someone crosses the line with God, there is the wrath of God to deal with. It is hard to believe that this verse could be talking about our loving God. Luke 20:18 says, “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Even though God is loving and kind, someone can get so far away from God that He would “grind them to powder.”

We can be sure what Hell is like, because Jesus said in Luke 16 that the rich man died and in Hell he was tormented in a flame. What is so complicated about that?

Whether people believe Hell is real, or whether people believe Hell has fire or not, they will realize it one day, but then it will be too late.

It is amazing to see all the ways that the Devil has used to get people out of church. Many times people may have a legitimate problem with a church, but that is still not a good excuse to not go to church. God may want to use that problem to get you to go to another church, or to become a better Christian through the problem.

People say, “We just haven’t found a church just like the one back home yet.” You will never find a church just like back home, because you are not back home. God may have moved you to this town for you to go to a different church that could help you and your family in a way the church back home could not.

I don’t know all the reasons people don’t go to church now, nor do I have answers to all the excuses. I only know that when you stand before Jesus, you don’t want to have to say, “Well, Jesus, I used to go to church.”

Matthew 24:46 says, “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” When Jesus comes back, let Him find us faithfully serving God and attending church.

If that be true, then how much time do we spend working on our relationships of life? We will work hard at making money. We will work hard at keeping all our cars working and clean. We will work hard at taking care of our house, but those things don’t make up life.
            How much time do we spend trying to make our relationships with the important people in our life right? We will get counsel concerning our money and material things, but we won’t go to a preacher to get counsel about an important relationship of life. We may ought to re-think what is important in our life, and direct some work, time and energy towards our relationships.

By the way, since John 14:6 says that Jesus is the life, you had better make sure that the relationship with Jesus Christ is right if you expect the other relationships to be right, also.

Many of us would ask, "Why would he choose to spend one more night with the frogs? Why not have them gone today, and right now? Why not have them leave in a hurry?" That doesn't make sense to me. Why live one more night with the stinking, slimy, smelly frogs?

I believe many of us are that way, also. God wants to help us get rid of all the bad things in our life. God wants us to be happy, and wants to make our life good, right, and clean, but we always say, "Tomorrow." We keep saying we will get right with God tomorrow, or we will get saved tomorrow. Why not enjoy life without all the problems that sin brings today? Let's not say, "Tomorrow" to God. Let's realize it is better for us to get right today.

Many things motivate me to preach and do right, but one of the big things is found in Matthew 5:19. Jesus said that if we don't do and teach right on something, even if we think it is a little thing, we will be called the "least" in the Kingdom of Heaven. If we do right and teach others to do right in everything, then we will be called "great" in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Someone may now be saying, "We shouldn't try to be great. It doesn't matter what others think." You are almost right. It doesn't matter what others think, but it does matter what Jesus says and thinks. Who will be calling us least and great in Heaven? According to the Bible, it is Jesus who says, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." I would love for Jesus to say something good about me. I could not imagine Jesus, my Saviour, the One who died on the cross to save me, saying, "You are the least in Heaven because you didn't teach the people in your church what you should have." I do want to please Him!

I love this area, the people, the weather, the hills and just about everything here. More and more, though, I am not loving what is happening to the morals of this town. Adult video stores, palm reading shops, prostitution and drugs is not what I want for our town and our children. I saw an advertisement that said, “This town runs on Sundrop.” Every place I look, it seems this town runs on alcohol.

What is the problem? The problem is not with the world. The world is supposed to be worldly, that is what they are. The problem is with the Christians. We are not the light and salt that we need to be. Matthew 5:13-14 says, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” We as Christians, are not to participate in the wrong. We are supposed to take a stand for right, and win people to Jesus Christ so they can be strong Christians, also.

Let’s be Christians that are worth our salt. Let’s let this area be a great place to live, to rear our children, and to serve our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I think one of the main things this verse is teaching is that people think summer is going to keep going on, and that there will be plenty of time to take care of things. We think that we can just take care of that tomorrow. We think there will always be time to work on the marriage, work on the relationships, and work out the problems, but summer always ends. Why not take the time now to get close to God, get in church and work on fixing the problems that need to be fixed? If it is being saved from Hell, take care of it today. If it is having your marriage saved, or a young person’s life turned around, don’t wait until it is too late.

John 12:9 says, “Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.” Even though they came to Jesus for another reason besides Himself, they were still helped after they had come. In John 6:26, some people sought Jesus only because He had fed them. When I got back into church it wasn’t for a spiritual reason; it was to find a nice girl to date. I didn’t find the girl to date at that church, but I did end up hearing the preaching, and eventually getting right with God.

Some people may criticize our church for having special days, or giving special rewards for someone coming on the bus routes, but there is nothing wrong with that. They just might come for that, but in the mean time they will get introduced to Jesus.

Usually, there are two problems with this. The first one is that we don't preach the Gospel where we are. It is every Christian's responsibility to tell others how to go to Heaven. I am amazed at how many Christians have never led anyone to Jesus Christ.

The second problem is that we aren't doing hardly anything to get the Gospel to the rest of the world. I grew up hearing about missionaries. The only thing I ever really remember, though, is the church trying to get people to give money for missions a couple times a year.

At our church, we try hard to do what we can to reach the world for Christ. We have a missions conference every year, where missionaries come to our church to tell us what they feel God would want them to do. Then, we financially support about sixty different missionary families all over the world, who are giving out the Gospel. We have a service tonight (Friday) at 7:00 p.m., tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., and at the regular time on Sunday. I think you would enjoy hearing missionaries going to Honduras, England, China, Brazil, and Bulgaria. I hope you are able to come.

Everyone reading this article has probably heard of the term “The Great Commission.” Most people would even know what it means, but I wonder how many are practicing it? The Great Commission is the great command or charge that Jesus gave to the Christians before He ascended to Heaven. The Great Commission is divided into three parts. First of all, we are to teach people how to be saved. After they are saved, they need to be baptized. Once they are baptized, it is our job to teach them to do all the things that Jesus commanded all of us to do.

This commission, or command, was given to every person that is saved, not just to preachers. If it were just given to the disciples, then no one today would be commanded to tell others how to go to Heaven, and of course, that is not right. We are all supposed to show others how to be saved. I wonder how many people reading this article have, at least one time this year, gone out two by two (Luke 10:1, Acts 20:20) and shown someone how to go to Heaven, helped them get baptized, and tried to teach them all the other things Jesus wants them to know.

This is not meant to be hard or mean, but if we as Christians, are going to try to win the world to Christ, then all of us need to be trying to fulfill the Great Commission. Let’s get started and tell someone how they can be saved!

There might be nothing wrong with that, but I wonder why Christians aren't as willing to fly their flag to let everyone know that they are a Christian. Why aren't we as willing to let everyone know that we are for Christ, and that we are fans of His. If we hear someone curse our Saviour, we should be willing to stand for Him like we would if someone put down our favorite team or race car driver. If someone takes the name of the Lord in vain, we should be willing to ask them to not do that, because we love the One whose name they are using in vain.

It seems like many people only think about God on Sunday or special days, and then spend their life on the other "things" of the world. When there is something in the world that is really big to them (Super Bowl), then they even put the things of the world over God. I would hate to think that a blown-up pigskin would be more important to me than church or my God. God still says in His Word, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Let's fly our flag high for the Lord Jesus Christ, and let everyone know we are a fan of His!

* Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. (God says if we get wealth by vanity {worthless things} the wealth will go away.)

* Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. (If we try to get rich quick, God says we are not innocent.)

When I lived in Iowa, I worked at a company with a man who won the Illinois lottery. He took a leave of absence from his job, lived it up, and was the envy of almost everyone around. In less than two years, he was bankrupt, divorced, on drugs and alcohol, and working back at the old job with less pay. There is nothing good in getting money that way. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:22, "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." God can help us to have money that does not bring any hard times with it. Christians should stand up and say "no" to the lottery. The only reason any one wants the lottery is because of the love of money, and God says the love of money is the root of all evil.

It is amazing how many people don't give tithes (10%) and offerings to the Lord. God said in Malachi 3:8 that we rob God when we don't give our tithes and offerings. So many people wonder why they are having so many financial problems, but they don't realize that God cannot bless them when they rob Him.

This last week, a lady came by our church on Saturday that had never even visited our church before. She was already saved, but had not been putting God first with her finances. She said she knew she needed to, and wanted to give her money to a church that was trying to reach people for the Lord. She then gave a pretty big amount of money to the offering. I still can't say I enjoy preaching or teaching about money, but I do because I know it is in the Bible. If I am to be the right kind of preacher, then I need to help people to do what the Bible says. You should make sure you are doing what God wants you to do also, so God can bless you and your family.

I stood in line on Judgement Day to kneel before the Lord.
In hopes that He would gladly say, "Well done, Here's your reward."
But as I stood there all alone
surrounded on all sides,
My hands did shake as friends were tossed to flames that never die.
And they said, "Why did you not tell me about this final plan?"
"Why did you not tell me about
the Son of man?"
The millions cried as all hope died! "We thought you were our friend!"
Now friend, if while this poem you read, some faces you recalled,
Of loves ones who are yet undone who on Jesus have not called,
Go tell them now before too late,
the Gospel you know well.
Their unbelief may seal their
fate eternally in Hell.
And they'll say, "Why did you not tell me about this final plan?"
"Why did you not tell me about
the Son of Man?"
The millions cried as all hope died!
"We thought you were our friend!"
"We thought you were our friend!"

- - BY ERIC REPLEOG

The purpose of this article is for us to understand this: ALL OF US WILL HAVE SOMEONE TELLING US WHAT TO DO FOR THE REST OF OUR LIFE. Why don't we obey God and let Him tell us what is right to do?

Since there is no way you can win, you might as well just give up! By the way, the only way to win in the Christian life is to surrender. When you surrender to God, then you win because God can bless you, and give you a better life than you could ever imagine.

If you are fighting God about getting saved, you won't win; just give up. If you are fighting God about doing His will, you won't win; just give up. If you are fighting God about going to church, you won't win; just give up. If you don't do what God wants, you will not win. You will be the loser for life and for eternity.

It is not very popular today to call sin what it really is, but the Bible is still true, and God calls homosexuality a sin. Someone told me one time that the Bible didn’t say anything against homosexuality. They obviously haven’t read very much of the Bible. Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” Individual people shouldn’t take that into their own hands, but according to God, a country should have laws against sodomy. The United States used to have laws in every state against sodomy.

Today, there is an incredible push in every area of society to make homosexuality accepted and normal. From politicians to actors, from advertising to primetime TV, homosexuality is being promoted and pushed. There are now public schools that have “Gay and Lesbian Clubs” and comic books that have gay superhero’s. According to The Parents Television Council, sexual references are up over 300% in the last ten years. That is amazing and wrong, but references to homosexuality have gone up over 2,000% at the same time. We are being indoctrinated by the world that sodomy is a “wonderful and natural” thing, but that is not what God says.

Yes, we are to love and help everyone, and we try to, but you can not help anyone by going against God. You only truly help people by showing them the plan that God created for them. The homosexual lifestyle is killing thousands of people, and it will help to destroy a nation. In the Bible and in history, when a nation is given to homosexuality, God destroyed that nation.

I will close with a quote that is still correct and right, “In the beginning, God make Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” We better decide to look to God, and not Hollywood for the correct position on this issue.

We need God for everything, but most people aren’t aware of that fact. Many people think they can do pretty well without Him. In Revelation 3:17, the Bible talks about people who think that because they have money and “things”, they don’t need God. The verse goes on to say that they don’t realize how bad off they really are. Everyone needs God, but many aren’t aware of it.

Sometimes, God will allow a hard time to come into our life to remind us that we need Him. We may go through a sickness, a financial problem, a family problem, or a problem at work to remind us that we really do need God.

Are you going through a hard time now? God is there to help you if you will just turn to Him for help. We really do need God!

I have talked to so many people that feel overwhelmed with too many things to do. Probably most people reading this article did not do something for the Lord they should have done. Or maybe you were not as faithful as you should have been. We are to forget what happened in the past, and try to make things different in the future. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future.

Speaking in tongues is just speaking in another language. That is very clear from the definition of tongues, and from the context of the scriptures.

Galatians 1:6-7 says, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” It is not the “full gospel” to tell someone there is something else besides the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that takes someone to Heaven. The Bible says they are preaching “another” gospel, and they have “perverted” the gospel of Christ.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:3 to beware lest we get corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The gospel is simple. Jesus died on a cross, was buried and rose again the third day to pay for our sins. If we put our trust in Him and what He did, then we will go to Heaven. That is the gospel.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t work hard, save, and be wise, but our trust shouldn’t be in those things. Most people trust their employer more than they trust God. Others trust their government check more than they do God. All those things are uncertain riches. Anything could happen to those earthly things.

There is one place to put our trust, and that is in God. No matter what happens financially, God is still able to take care and provide for us. Psalms 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” Why don’t we show our children by example that our trust is in God, and not in the world? There is much more stability with God, Who is the Rock of our salvation.

And I wonder - if the Saviour spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing, the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Or would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you go?
Or would you maybe change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet your closest friends?
Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends?

Would you be glad to have him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?

It might be interesting to know the things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person, to spend some time with you.

Lois Blanchard Eades

Then, I am reminded of a verse that really encourages me. Joshua 24:15 says, “...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” That encourages me, because I do not have to give an account for the other preachers, and the other people. I will have to give an account for my family and myself. My family and I are going to try to keep doing right, even if others don’t.

Now what about you? Have you been using “all those hypocrites” to keep you away from church? Have you used “all those money grabbin’ preachers” to keep you from serving God? You won’t give account for them, but you will stand before God for yourself. Why don’t you say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” and let everyone else take care of themselves.

That is very much the way America is now. God has blessed this country more than any on the face of the earth. God has given us more than anyone, but so many people still go out to serve other gods. When you look at people on Sunday and see how many people serve the river, their boat, sports, the T.V., shopping, holidays, their bed, or whatever their god is, it must make God sick. Just because we don’t serve a little statue of a smiling fat man sitting with his legs crossed doesn’t mean we don’t have other gods. Anything that is put in place of God is serving a false god.

Most people’s minds are filled with dirty movies, dirty jokes, dirty pictures, dirty stories, dirty TV, dirty music, and many other things that we would call dirty and wrong. When a man’s mind is dirty, it is or will one day be manifested in evil acts. That is why almost every rapist is hooked on pornography. The Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If you think dirty long enough, you will do something evil.

When our feet are dirty, we wash them. When our hands are dirty, we wash them. When our brain is dirty, we need to wash it also. David prayed for God to create in him a clean heart. (Ps. 51:10) That didn’t mean clean arteries and no cholesterol blockage. That meant he wanted a clean mind. The word “brain” is not found in the Bible, but the word “heart” in the Bible is many times used as the deep, inner thoughts of the mind.

David had put things into his mind that were dirty, and he wanted a clean mind. He was asking God to wash his brain or to “brainwash him.” God also said in Psalms 73:1 that He was good to those that had a clean heart or a brain that was washed.

Wouldn’t it be good if everyone around us had a clean brain? Wouldn’t that be great for this community? A clean mind is only made possible by the Word of God. Psalms 119:9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” I want to spend time with the Bible because I want a clean mind. It is sure better than most of the people I meet that have dirty ones. When I meet someone that says, “You are brainwashing people!”, I know that they must have a dirty mind and would like to keep it that way!

Since God has been so good to us, shouldn’t we put Him first in our life instead of living for all the things of the world? God looks at that like adultery because we are giving our affections to something else instead of Him.

Let’s give this day and every day to the Lord. He is the one that gave us this day, and everything we have.

I wonder what friend, neighbor or family member of yours is a good person, but has never trusted the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to take them to Heaven. The Bible says if someone is not believing on Jesus to save them, then they are condemned already. (John 3:18) It is up to every Christian to take that message to them, explain it to them, and lead them to accept Christ. That will mean their soul will be won to Christ and they will not have to go to Hell.

Doing this is commonly called the Great Commission. This is the last command that Jesus gave to His disciples. This is also a command to us.

I was saved for years, but never knew it was our job to show others how to go to Heaven. One day, I heard a preacher say, "Look folks, we know how to go to Heaven. So many people don't know how to go to Heaven. We are supposed to show them how they can go to Heaven." That was so simple, and was all I needed to see what my responsibility was to my friends, family, neighbors and to the world. I hope you see your responsibility, also. How sad it will be to see some friends and family of yours cast into the lake of fire, when we could have shown them how they could be in Heaven for eternity.

God tells us in I Thess. 5:18 that we are to give thanks in everything. If we give thanks constantly to God in everything, we will not ever take God's wonderful blessings for granted. Why not take some time today and make a list of things that we have a tendency to take for granted, and be thankful to God for those things?

You can have "fundamentalists" in any area. There are Islamic fundamentalists, and Catholic fundamentalists. That just means that those people hold to the teachings of the foundation or the beginning of the Islamic or Catholic faith.

I am a Fundamental Christian, and I believe every Christian should be. I believe that a Christian should believe the fundamentals of the faith and should stand for Christianity the way it was at its foundation. We have no right to change Christianity, because we are not Christ.

Fundamental Christianity is for the traditional family, and against homosexuality. Fundamental Christianity is for having children and against abortion. Fundamental Christianity is for winning people to Jesus, and against passive, fake, so-called Christianity. And, by the way, fundamentalists do have lots of good, clean fun, and many are great thinkers.

When my dad moved back to Tennessee after being in the Army, he and my mother bought a house in Riverside. Next door to them in a little pink house, lived the Duncans. Sara Duncan never had any children of her own, but adopted many children and grandchildren. When my mom and dad brought me home from the hospital, Sara was the first to see me and take care of me. We couldn't pronounce Sara for some reason, so we called her SaSa. She has been our SaSa for many years. I have spent hundreds of hours with her as a child, a single adult, and with my family. We loved her so much we named our first daughter after her. She was a great lady in the truest sense of the word.

SaSa went to Heaven last week after eighty-six years on this earth. She was a charter member of Northside Baptist Church, and a godly lady. She never met a stranger and loved everyone she met. We need more people like Sara Duncan in this world.

The term "fallen from grace" is only found one time in the Bible. (Galatians 5:4) To understand any verse, a person must understand two things: to whom is it talking, and about what is it talking. Galatians 1:2 tells us that the book is written to the churches of Galatia and not to an individual. When you read the book with that in mind, the term "fallen from grace" is very simple.

Paul was telling the churches that they were believing another gospel. (ch.1) He said that they were now believing that one had to be circumcised and keep the law to go to Heaven. (ch. 2-3) He told them they had put the people in bondage by believing that. (ch. 4) He told them that they had made Christ of no affect because they were trusting the law to take them to Heaven. (ch. 5) They had fallen from teaching salvation is by grace through faith, and were now teaching salvation by works. They had fallen from teaching grace, or they had fallen from grace.

If you have been taught something other than this, look it up and study it for yourself. Don't just take what I say; see for yourself what God says. If a church teaches that a person must be baptized and live a good life to be saved, then the church has fallen from grace, also. They are not teaching you are saved by grace through faith any more. They are now teaching you are saved by works. Once a person has truly trusted Jesus Christ to save them, it is impossible to fall and go to Hell. Jesus keeps us from falling. (Jude v.24, John 10:28, Eph. 1:13, 4:30)

Last week, I taught about the phrase “falling from grace.” I thought I would continue on that topic again this week. If you didn’t get to read that article and would like to, just give us a call and we will send it to you. (You may want to read this article slowly, and even read most statements a few times, meditating on them to get a good understanding.)

The first thing we should establish is what is grace? Grace is “unmerited favor.” That is the standard definition that means something that is given to us that we do not do anything for or deserve. Salvation is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8,9). We are saved by a free gift from Jesus that we don’t deserve or do anything good to get. The way we get salvation is through faith in His finished work of Calvary. If “falling from grace” means you can lose your salvation, then obviously you had to do something to earn your salvation. How can you do something bad to lose your salvation, when you aren’t trusting anything you can do for your salvation? How can you do anything to fall from unmerited favor? If you can do something bad to fall from unmerited favor, then it isn’t unmerited favor. It would then be merited favor; giving us something because of something good we did. That is not grace! If you can do anything to have a gift taken away, then it was not a real gift in the first place. It was a deal: if you do this, then I will give you this.

True Bible salvation is just accepting Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross as our only way to Heaven. We cannot do anything to deserve or earn Heaven. It is a gift that is by grace.

This next Wednesday through Friday (November 1-3), the ladies of our church will be hosting our fourth annual Ladies Spectacular. It will start at 3:00 o’clock Wednesday, and will be over at 3:00 o’clock on Friday. The theme is “The Carousel of Life.” Although a carousel goes up and down and around and around, it can still be a lot of fun. There will be great inspirational speakers, wonderful music, beautiful decorations, door prizes, gift bags for everyone, and a lot more.

It is a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. Invite any friends that you have, and if you would like more information, call our church or 381-3290.

What you just read has been called the Fall of Society, or the Fall of Mankind. Man fell in the Garden of Eden, but man has fallen even farther since then. When you see where it starts, it should make everyone start and think. The Bible says it starts when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. I wonder how many people know God, but do not glorify Him with their life, and are not thankful. Everything good that we have has come from God, but people still spend more time griping and complaining than they do praising and thanking God for what He has done for them. During this holiday season, God usually gets some thanks, but many forget and others just thank God in words, but not with their life.

The right way to thank God is to let our life be used by God to serve Him and to help others. We thank Him with our mouth and glorify Him with our life. If not, then we are not a part of the solution to man’s problems, but we are part of the problem.

If we could control what we think about in our mind, then we would control our body, and life would be so much better. Read this verse carefully a few times. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” If we would work hard to bring every thought into captivity that wasn’t what Christ wanted us to think about, life would be so much better. We wouldn’t battle with so many things in our Christian life.

We need to replace the sinful thoughts, worldly thoughts, and thoughts that waste our time, with thoughts of our wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I love the fact that God says His mercies are new every day. I am glad God gives us a new day to try to do better, and a new week and month to make plans to get closer to Him. I am glad we have a new year to make some new decisions about how we are going to live, and what we are going to do.

Why don’t you take this great chance at a new start and make some changes in your life? I don’t know what changes you need to make, but everyone needs to make some. You might need to make changes in your Bible reading, prayer time, or church attendance. You might need to make decisions on surrendering to God, or make the greatest decision to trust the Lord to save you. Whatever the decisions you need to make, now is a great, new, fresh time to do it. If you need help in carrying out the decisions, please give us a call.