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11 May 2008
Sarah laughed when God said she would have a child at
90. Rebekah schemed to favor her younger son over her
older. Rachel and Leah competed for favor with Jacob by
how many sons they gave him. Zipporah curse Moses
because she had to circumcise their son Gershom to save
his life. Hannah begged God for a son and then gave him
to God when he was four. Naomi buried two sons but got
a daughter-in-law who loved her for life. Athaliah
murdered all of her grandsons she could get hold of so
she could be Queen in their place, but she missed one.
The mother of Job's children (whose name is not recorded
in the Bible), when she had lost all of her sons and
daughters, told Job to "Curse God and die." The mother
of James and John tried to get Jesus to give them
special honors. Lois taught Eunice about the Lord and
Eunice taught Timothy. The Bible is full of mothers.
As we find in our own everyday lives, some mothers are
good, some are bad mothers, and some are a little of
both. The Bible doesn't tell us to honor only the good
ones. The fifth commandment simply says to honor your
mothers. We need to honor our mothers in obedience to
God and let Him take care of the rest. Pray about it.
God bless you all.
Bro. Russell
4 May 2008
It is so very important that the Lord's Supper is more
to us than merely a ritual we go through, that we try to
make it fresh and new each time we participate. This is
a time of solemn reflection and personal
confession and worship. For this reason, today we will
be remembering Jesus' sacrifice as the climax of
the worship service. Prior to the observance you will
be given an opportunity to seek God's forgiveness in
confession of your sins. We will read the relevant
scriptures to begin with and then the elements will be
served in total silence. No music will be
played; no prayers will be voiced aloud; everyone will
please observe silence during the participation.
Afterward we will all join hands and sing accapella and
then remain silent until we have exited the building.
Please join us in this very special observance of the
supper of our LORD. (Ps. 51:1-13; I Cor. 11:23-32;
John 6:35-40; I John 1:5-10)
Bro. Russell
27 April 2008
Millions of caterpillars and millions of tadpoles hatch
out every spring. They live in very dangerous
environments. Predators swarm around gobbling them up
at an alarming rate. It is the rare tadpole that
actually makes it to the point of becoming a frog and
the process takes a complete transformation. Only a few
caterpillars make it to the point of forming a cocoon
and then they almost literally die inside. The
transformation that occurs creates a butterfly that in
almost no way resembles the caterpillar it once was.
The amazing thing is that any of them make it at all.
We need to consider then that the process of being born
again for the caterpillar and the tadpole is similar to
that for the unbeliever. There are obstacles that stand
in the way. Are you going to let millions of
unbelievers fail to make it and to be like the tadpoles
and the caterpillars. Wouldn't you rather help them to
become butterflies? God bless you all.
Bro. Russell
20 April 2008
In James 4:13-16 we are warned against trying to
go it on our own. James reminds us that our next breath
is not guaranteed to us and there is no certainty that
anything we plan to do will get done. He is not telling
us to go through life without a plan. That would be
merely aimless wandering. He is telling us that any
plans we make should be made in consultation with the
Lord. He also reminds us that any plan we make, even if
we are following what the Lord tells us, is subject to
change if the Lord so desires. God will probably not
tell me everything He is planning to do. If He doesn't
it is very possible that something He has me doing today
may get changed by something He has planned that I know
nothing about. So, let us not be guilty of arrogance.
Let us submit to the Lord, ask Him what plans we should
make, make them with His guidance, and then be prepared
to change plans at the moment when He says, "I have
something else in mind." God bless you all.
Bro. Russell
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