Worth thinking about!

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how "pure" you are but your awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to God's grace. - Philip Yancey

Bible study is not merely to inform us- it's meant to transform us. – Anon

God without man is still God; man without God is lost – Anon

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. – Karl Reiland

Happiness is a direction, not a place. – Anon

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday – and all is well! – Anon

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. – Walter Winchell

I count him braver who conquers his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self. – Aristotle

If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy. – Anon

Many of the above are from that well-known 'person': A.N.Onymous. However, if you happen to know the real person to whom any such quotations should be attributed, please advise me (via a comment - click on 'Comments' at the foot of the post, and a new screen will appear, with a box for your comment. If you do not wish to have it published, please just say so!), and I will happily rectify the situation.

The death of Common Sense

The following arrived in my Inbox today - sent by Christians Together (http://www.christianstogether.net/Groups/46918/Christians_Together_in.aspx) - and originally published in The London Times. It makes sad reading - basically because it is so very true!

"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, 'Common Sense'. Though he has been with us for many years, no one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe, just maybe, it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place which led to: reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouth wash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student. These situations worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust; and his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility and his son, Reason. He is survived by four other close relations; I Know My Rights; I Want It Now; Someone Else Is To Blame; and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. But if you still remember him, please pass this on; as the majority who have been silenced by the thought police called "PC" will do nothing."

Food for thought!

The following (slightly edited, to take out some of the specifically USA references) just came in to my e-mail Inbox. It was apparently read out by a certain Ben Stein - who, I am assuming, is better known in the USA than in the UK! -on "CBS Sunday Morning Commentary".

"My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me
even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I
don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas
trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are
slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we
are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that
there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If
people want a crïeche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting
pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of
getting pushed around, period. ...

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should
worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess
that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. ...

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when
Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained
she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not
read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave
because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr
Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.
And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience; why they don't know right from wrong; and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great
deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny
how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start
sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd,
crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of
God is suppressed in the school and workplace. ...

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks
of us. ..."

I know that I have read similar messages before, but I felt that it was worth posting - in case anybody has missed it!

Quotable Quotes

Later today, we head off for a church weekend. Then we move up to Laurencekirk, on the Aberdeenshire coast, until Friday of next week. Lack of internet access means that I’ll not be posting anything during this time, so here are a few “quotable quotes” to keep my faithful readers going.

“God isn’t as interested in my ability as in my availability” (Anon.)
“No matter how many smiles I give away, I always have one more “ (Me!!)
“Church is not something we go to; rather it’s something we belong to.” (Rick Warren)
“Either we trust God, or we play God” (Word for Today)
“We know that, in everything, God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Paul; Rom 8:28)

Quotable Quotes

“When you belong to the family of God, through faith in the Son of God, life is not monotonous: it is a daily adventure that builds character, and enables you to serve others to the glory of God.” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Satisfied, p.20)

“Faith does not deny the reality of the circumstances – it just refuses to be intimidated, limited, or ruled, by them.” (The Word for Today, May 18th, 2008)

“Faith is dead to doubt, deaf to discouragement, blind to the impossible, and knows nothing but success in God.” (Ray Comfort, Militant Evangelism, p.74)

What is the church?

I’ve just finished reading a book that records some of the major speeches, and writings, of that great American Negro leader, Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jnr. In a letter sent from the City Jail of Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, he wrote:
“There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days, the church was not a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town, the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators’. But they went on with the conviction that they were ‘a colony of heaven’ and had to obey God rather than man’. They were small in number, but big in commitment. They were too god-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated’. They brought to an end such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.
Things are different now. The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent, and often vocal, sanction of things as they are.
But the judgement of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club ...”
The sad thing is that those latter words paint every bit as accurate a picture of the church, in the UK at least, today as they did of Dr King’s contemporary situation.
Another leader, of whom I had not heard before, is another man with black skin. His name is Sunday Adelaja, and he is the pastor of the Embassy of God Church in Kyiv in Ukraine. The church is growing in Ukraine because it is acting like the early church as Dr King described it, and Pastor Adelaja encourages every single member of his extremely large congregation to influence and impact the culture for God.
Speaking at a recent conference of church leaders in the USA, he stated: “Do not let your people get comfortable with sitting down in pews. You have to strengthen them so they can go out there and invade the darkness of the world, because they are the light of the world.”
Forty-five years after Dr King penned his letter from the Birmingham Jail, it is another man of African descent, in a country that was then on the other side of the Iron Curtain, who is showing the way forward. God grant that the church in the UK, and other countries that are similarly “post-Christian”, rise up like the church in Ukraine, that the gospel might be proclaimed to every nation, in preparation for the return of the Lord, Jesus the Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords.

A different perspective!!

Contentment is not getting what we want, but being satisfied with what we have. (Anon.)

Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself; it just means thinking of yourself less! (The Word for Today, 14th April, 2008)

Work can be worship – when you do it for God. (Woodrow Kroll)

Profound thoughts!

"... what God desires is deeper than what He demands; what He requires, more fundamental than what He prescribes." Philip Greenslade

"... O people, Yahweh (the LORD) has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you:
to do what is right;
to love mercy;
and to walk humbly with your God." The prophet Micah

"Do people ever come up to you, as a Christian, and say, 'My, you're getting very much like your Lord'? Do people ever come up to you and say, 'Oh, how you remind me of Jesus Christ'? Do they ever do that? They ought to, you know. If you are in good (spiritual) health, and if your heart is right." Rev. George B. Duncan

Prayer

"A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening."
(Søren Kierkegaard: Christian Discourses)

"Be still, and know that I am God."
(Psalm 46:10)

"Prayer is the easiest, and the hardest, of all things; the simplest, and the most sublime; the weakest, and the most powerful. Its results lie outside the range of human possibilities; they are limited only by the omnipotence of God."
(E.M.Bounds)

The Irresistible Jesus Christ!

The Irresistible Jesus Christ! Do you know Him?
Jesus Christ, the irresistible, is the King! He’s the King of the Jews! He’s the King of Righteousness! He’s the King of the Ages! He’s the King of Heaven! He’s the King of Glory! He’s the King of Kings! And He’s the Lord of Lords! That’s my King!

The Irresistible Jesus Christ! Do you know Him?
My King is a sovereign king! No means of measure can divide His limitless love! No far-reaching telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supplies! No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings! Do you know Him?

The Irresistible Christ!
He’s enduringly strong! He’s entirely sincere! He’s eternally steadfast! He’s immortally graceful! He’s imperatively powerful!He’s impartially merciful! Oh, do you know Him? Do you know Him? He’s the greatest phenomenon ever to cross the horizons of the world! He’s God the Son! He’s the sinner’s Saviour! He’s the Centrepiece of Civilization! He stands in the solitude of Himself! He’s august and He’s unique! He’s unparalleled and unprecedented!

He’s the loftiest ideal in literature! He’s the highest personality in philosophy! He’s the supreme problem in higher criticism! He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology! He’s the necessity of spiritual religion! He’s the miracle of the ages! He’s the superlative of everything good you choose to call Him! And, He’s the only one qualifiedto judge man’s motives!

Oh, I wonder, do you know Him? He’s the key to knowledge! He’s a well spring of wisdom! He’s a door way of deliverance! He’s a pathway of peace! He’s a roadway of righteousness! He’s a highway of holiness! He’s a gateway of glory! He’s the Master of the mighty! He’s the Captain of the conquerors! He’s the Head of the heroes! He’s the Leader of the Legislators! He’s the Overcomer of the overcomers! He’s the Governor of the governors! He’s the Prince of princes! He’s King of kngs and Lord of lords! That’s my King! Oh, I wonder if you know Him? The Irresistible Jesus Christ!

Listen my friends! He supplies strength for the weak! He’s available for the tempted and tried! He sympathizes and He saves! He guards and He guides! He heals the sick! He cleansed the lepers! He forgave sinners! He discharged debtors! He delivers the captive! He defends the feeble! He blesses the young! He serves the unfortunate! He regards the aged! He rewards the diligent! And, He beautifies the meek! Oh, do you know Him?

Do you know Him?
Well, His office in manifold! His promise is sure! His life is matchless! His goodness is limitless! His mercy is everlasting! His love never changes! His Word is enough! His grace sufficient! His reign is righteous! His yoke is easy! And, His burden is light! He’s the Irresistible Christ!

I wish I could describe Him to you ... I really do! But listen! He’s indescribable! He’s incomprehensible! He’s invincible! The heaven of heavens can’t contain Him, let alone a man try to explain Him! You can’t get Him out of your mind and You can’t get Him off your hands! You can’t outlive Him and You can’t live without Him! That’s my King!

The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found that they couldn’t stop Him! Pilate couldn’t find any fault with Him! Herod couldn’t kill Him! Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him! That’s my King - The irresistible Christ!

Listen! He always has been and He always will be! He had no predecessor and He’ll have no successor! There was nobody before Him and there’ll be nobody after Him! You can’t impeach Him and He’s not going to resign! Praise God, that’s my King!
(Author: Unknown)

Worth remembering!

"No matter how dark the day,God always gives His people the bright light of His promises." (Warren Wiersbe)
"... we don't have to explain the will of God before we can obey it." (Warren Wiersbe)
"Always remember - God's clock is neither fast nor slow!" (Rev. Andrew Macbeath, former Principal of The Bible Training Institute, Glasgow).

Happy New Year!

"I said the man at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown'. He said, 'Put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light,and safer that a known way.'"
"Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future: faith is having the courage to dance to it today." (Peter Kusmic; Christian evangelist).
"Courage is not the absence of fear; it's the conquest of it!" (Bob Gass; Christian publisher)

Jesus

"Jesus is the Key to all Knowledge.
He's the Wellspring of Wisdom.
He's the Doorway of Deliverance and He's the Pathway of Peace.
He's the Roadway of Righteousness.
He's the Highway of Holiness, He's the Gateway to Glory ... AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM!"
(Don Moen, Christian worship-leader)