Saturday, February 28, 2009

Catching Wild Pigs



A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends.

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on America .


"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Thanks to


Brother Dean McClain
Independent Baptist by Conviction and Practice
International Internet Evangelist: www.Skype.com DeansWorld

A Wise Man has a Teachable Spirit, a Wise Guy does not!

Why settle for a religion when you can have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

The USA is finding out now what happens when you turn your back on God!

Free Online Bible download for your computer:
www.answersingenesis.org/OnlineBible/files/install_advance.exe
FREE to use Online: www.biblos.com

The King James Bible or Authorized Version of 1611,
any edition is British English but used more in the USA than the UK

Friday, February 27, 2009

Friday Funnies - MEMORY TEST

I missed two and I will tell you which two later with all the answers. jeff

MEMORY TEST!

This is NOT a pushover test. There are 20 questions. Average score is 12. This one will be difficult for the younger set. Have fun, but no peeking! When you forward this to your friends/family, put your score in the subject line & let them know your score.

Don't forget to forward it to me, as well. Good luck youngsters.


1. What builds strong bodies 12 ways?
A. Flintstones vitamins
B. The Buttmaster
C. Spaghetti
D. Wonder Bread
E. Orange Juice
F. Milk
G. Cod Liver Oil


2. Before he was Muhammed Ali, he was...
A. Sugar Ray Robinson
B. Roy Orbison
C. Gene Autry
D. Rudolph Valentino
E. Fabian
F. Mickey Mantle
G. Cassius Clay


3. Pogo, the comic strip character said, 'We have met the enemy and...
A. It's you
B. He is us
C. It's the Grinch
D. He wasn't home
E. He's really me an
F. We quit
G. He surrendered


4. Good night David.
A. Good nigh Chet
B. Sleep well
C. Good night Irene
D. Good night Gracie
E. See you later alligator
F. Until tomorrow
G. Good night Steve


5. You'll wonder where the yellow went...
A. When you use Tide
B. When you lose your crayons
C. When you clean your tub
D. If you paint the room blue
E. If you buy a soft water tank
F. When you use Lady Clairol
G. When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent


6. Before he was the Skipper's Little Buddy, Bob Denver was Dobie's friend...
A. Stuart Whitman
B. Randolph Scott
C. Steve Reeves
D. Maynard G. Krebbs
E. Corky B. Dork
F. Dave the Whale
G. Zippy Zoo


7. Liar, liar...
A. You're a liar
B. Your nose is growing
C. Pants on fire
D. Join the choir
E. Jump up higher
F. On the wire
G. I'm telling Mom


8. Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Superman fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and...
A. Wheaties
B. Lois Lane
C. TV ratings
D. World peace
E. Red tights
F. The American way
G. News headlines


9. Hey kids! What time is it?
A. It's time for Yogi Bear
B. It's time to do your homework
C. It's Howdy Doody Time
D. It's Time for Romper Room
E. It's bedtime
F. The Mighty Mouse Hour
G. Scoopy Doo Time


10. Lions and tigers and bears...
A. Yikes
B. Oh no
C. Gee whiz
D. I'm scared
E. Oh my
F. Help! Help!
G. Let's run


11. Bob Dylan advised us never to trust anyone...
A. Over 40
B. Wearing a uniform
C. Carrying a briefcase
D. Over 30
E. You don't know
F. Who says, 'Trust me'
G. Who eats tofu


12. NFL quarterback who appeared in a television commercial wearing women's stockings...
A. Troy Aikman
B. Kenny Stabler
C. Joe Namath
D. Roger Stauback
E. Joe Montana
F. Steve Young
G. John Elway


13. Brylcream...
A. Smear it on
B. You'll smell great
C. Tame that cowlick
D. Grease ball heaven
E. It's a dream
F. We're your team
G. A little dab'll do ya


14. I found my thrill...
A. In Blueberry muffins
B. With my man, Bill
C. Down at the mill
D. Over the windowsill
E. With thyme and dill
F. Too late to enjoy
G. On Blueberry Hill


15. Before Robin Williams, Peter Pan was played by...
A. Clark Gable
B. Mary Martin
C. Doris Day
D. Errol Flynn
E. Sally Fields
F. Jim Carey
G. Jay Leno


16. Name the Beatles...
A. John, Steve, George, Ringo
B. John, Paul, George, Roscoe
C. John, Paul, Stacey, Ringo
D. Jay, Paul, George, Ringo
E. Lewis, Peter, George, Ringo
F. Jason, Betty, Skipper, Hazel
G. John, Paul, George, Ringo


17. I wonder, wonder, who..
A. Who ate the leftovers?
B. Who did the laundry?
C. Was it you?
D. Who wrote the book of love?
E. Who I am?
F. Passed the test?
G. Knocked on the door?


18. I'm strong to the finish...
A. Cause I eats my broccoli
B. Cause I eats me spinach
C. Cause I lift weights
D. Cause I'm the hero
E. And don't you forget it
F. Cause Olive Oyl loves me
G. To outlast Bruto


19. When it's least expected, you're elected, you're the star today...
A. Smile, you're on Candid Camera
B. Smile, you're on Star Search
C. Smile, you won the lottery
D. Smile, we're watching you
E. Smile, the world sees you
F. Smile, you're a hit
G. Smile, you're on TV


20. What do M & M's do?
A. Make your tummy happy
B. Melt in your mouth, not in your pocket
C. Make you fat
D. Melt your heart
E. Make you popular
F. Melt in your mouth, not in your hand
G. Come in colors


If you desire to place your answers in comment, please do.

Answers later in comments. jeff

1963 - Communist Goals in the USA

Senator Jeff Kruse
R-Roseburg, District 1
Phone: 503-986-1701
900 Court St. NE, S-211 Salem Oregon 97301
Email: sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us
Website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/kruse
E-Newsletter Number 1, Volume 1
Working Hard For You

FOOD FOR THOUGHT


First I would like to let you know I appreciate all of the responses I have been receiving to my newsletters and one common theme lately has been a question as to where our country is headed. As a student of history I have wondered myself, so I thought I might take a brief break from events in Salem and look back into history to the year 1963.

What follows are not my words, they were read into the Congressional Record on January 10, 1963 by the Honorable A.S. Herlong, Jr. who was a Congressman from Florida. While the Congressional Record has not been digitized this far back, this has been checked for accuracy.

My purpose in doing this is simply to give us some perspective and something to think about. I have included 26 of the 45 points made in the speech. My conclusions after reading the speech are irrelevant to the purpose of this letter, as I know you are very capable of reaching your own. I also know 1963 was very different than today, however, sometimes a look back can be informative.


COMMUNIST GOALS IN THE US
1963

1. Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the US would be a demonstration of moral strength

2. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war

3. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites

4. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination

5. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the UN

6. Promote the UN as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces

7. Do away with all loyalty oaths

8. Continue to give Russia access to the US Patent Office

9. Capture one or both political parties in the US

10. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights

11. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teacher’s associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

12. Gain control of all student newspapers

13. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under communist attack

14. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, and policy making positions

15. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures

16. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press

17. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground it violates the principle of “separation of church and state”

18. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis

19. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the common man

20. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history

21. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture-education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

22. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions

23. Infiltrate and gain control of big business

24. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but a psychiatrist can understand

25. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce

26. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents


For those who have read this far, it does give us some things to think about.


Sincerely,

Senator Jeff Kruse

Thanks Dean for the email.


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sweet Will of God

The shortest way is not always right, nor the smoothest the safest. Therefore, be not surprised if the Lord chooses the farthest and roughest, but be sure of this - He will choose the best.

My stubborn will at last hath yielded;
I would be Thine, and Thine alone;
But this the prayer my lips are bringing,
“Lord, let in me Thy will be done.”

Shut in with Thee, O Lord, forever,
My wayward feet no more to roam;
What pow’r from Thee my soul can sever?
The center of God’s will my home.

Sweet will of God, still hold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee;
Sweet will of God, still hold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee.

copied

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

KING JAMES ONLY


Republished February 25, 2009 (first published January 20, 1996) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) –


There is a lot of debate and confusion surrounding the man-made term "King James Onlyism." This term has been popularized in recent years by men who claim they are concerned about an alleged dangerous and cultic view of the King James Bible. Rarely do they carefully define this term, though, and as a result a wide variety of Bible-believing men are lumped together and labeled with a term the meaning of which is nebulous.


The term “King James Only” was invented by those who oppose the defense of the King James Bible and its underlying Hebrew and Greek texts. It was intended to be a term of approbation, and it is usually defined in terms of the extremism.


I have been labeled “King James Only” because of my writings on the subject of Bible texts and versions and my defense of the King James Bible. To set the record straight, let me explain what I believe. I know from decades of experience and extensive travels that this is also what a large number of other King James Bible defenders believe.


I WILL ACCEPT THE LABEL OF “KING JAMES ONLY” IF IT MEANS THE FOLLOWING:


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that God has given infallible Scripture in the original Greek and Hebrew writings and that He has preserved that in the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Received Text underlying the King James Bible and other Reformation Bibles and that we have an accurate translation of it in the English language in the Authorized Version, call me “King James Only.”


If “King James Only” defines one who believes modern textual criticism is heresy, call me “King James Only.” I have spent hundreds of dollars to obtain the writings of the men who have been at the forefront of developing the theories underlying modern textual criticism, and I have read them. They are not dependable. They refuse to approach the Bible text from a position of faith in divine preservation. Most of them are unbelievers, and I refuse to lean upon their scholarship. I am convinced they do not have the spiritual discernment necessary to know where the inspired, preserved Word of God is located today.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that God has preserved the Scripture in its common use among apostolic churches through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and that He guided the Reformation editors and translators in their choice of the Received Text and that we don’t have to start all over today in an to attempt to find the preserved text of Scripture, call me “King James Only.” The theories of modern textual criticism, on the other hand, all revolve around the idea that the pure text of Scripture was not preserved in the Reformation text but that the Reformation editors, because of their alleged ignorance and or lack of resources, rejected the pure text and chose, instead, an inferior text. In fact, modern textual criticism is predicated upon the theory that the best text of the New Testament (the Egyptian or Alexandrian) was rejected in the earliest centuries and was replaced with a corrupt recension that was created through the conflation of various manuscript readings (the Byzantine or Traditional text) and that the corrupt text became the dominant text throughout most of church history (for 1,500 years) until the best text was rediscovered in the 19th century. You are free to accept such views if it suits you. I, for one, believe this is absolute nonsense, and if that is “King James Only,” count me in.


Similarly, if “King James Only” defines one who rejects the theory that the “preserved” Word of God was hidden away in the Pope’s library and in a weird Greek Orthodox monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai (a monastery which has a room full of the skulls of dead monks) for hundreds of years, call me “King James Only.”


If “King James Only” defines one who believes it is important to have one biblical standard in a language as important as English and who believes that the multiplicity of competing versions has created confusion and has weakened the authority of the Word of God in this century, call me “King James Only.”


I WILL NOT ACCEPT THE LABEL OF “KING JAMES ONLY” IF IT MEANS THE FOLLOWING:


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that the KJV was
given by inspiration, I am not “King James Only. The King James Bible is the product of preservation, not inspiration. The term “inspiration” refers to the original giving of the Scripture through holy men of old (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). At the same time, I agree with the Pulpit Commentary when it says, “We must guard against such narrow, mechanical views of inspiration as would confine it to the Hebrew and Greek words in which it was written, so that one who reads a good translation would not have ‘the words of the Lord.’” To say that the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God in the English language because it is an accurate translation of the preserved Hebrew and Greek is not the same as saying that it was given by inspiration.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes the English KJV is superior to the Hebrew and Greek texts upon which it was based, I am
not “King James Only.” In fact, I believe such an idea is pure nonsense, as it would mean the preserved Word of God did not exist before 1611.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes the English Authorized Version is advanced revelation over the Hebrew and Greek text that God gave through inspiration to holy men of old, I am
not “King James Only.”


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that we do not need to study Greek and Hebrew today or that it is not proper to use lexicons and dictionaries, I am
not “King James Only.” God’s people should learn Greek and Hebrew if possible and use (with much caution and wisdom) study tools. When the Bible says that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” we know that the words they spake were Hebrew and Greek words. I encouraged my youngest son to begin studying Greek in high school, and he is scheduled to have four years of Greek and two of Hebrew when he graduates from Bible College. But foundational to the study of the biblical languages is a thorough understanding of the textual issue. We must study the right Greek and Hebrew, and we must also be careful of the original language study tools, because many of them were produced from a rationalistic perspective and with great bias against the Received Text.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes the preserved Word of God is available only in English, I am not “King James Only.” The Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament and Greek Received New Testament translated properly into any language is the preserved Word of God in that language, whether it is German, Spanish, French, Korean, or Nepali. There is a list of Received-text based translations in the “Directory of Foreign Language Literature” at the Way of Life web site. (See the Apostasy Database.)


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that translations in other languages should be based on English rather than (when possible) Greek and Hebrew, I am
not “King James Only.” (I also believe that a good translation can be made directly from the King James Bible when necessary if it is done by men who are capable in the use of dictionaries so that they understand the somewhat antiquated language of the KJV properly.)


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that a person can only be saved through the King James Bible, I am
not “King James Only.” It is the Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), and even a Bible that is textually corrupt contains the Gospel.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes that the King James Bible’s antiquated language is holy or who believes the KJV could never again be updated, I am
not “King James Only.” I doubt the KJV will ever be replaced in this apostate age, but to say that it is wrong to update the language again after the fashion of the several updates it has undergone since 1611 is not reasonable, in my estimation. Having dealt constantly with people who speak English as a 2nd or 3rd language, I am very sympathetic to the very real antiquation problem in the King James Bible. At the same time, I am not going to trade an excellent Bible with a few problems due to old language for a Bible filled with error due to a corrupt text and/or a corrupt translation methodology.


If “King James Only” defines one who believes he has the authority to call those who disagree with him silly asses, morons, and jacklegs, and to treat them as if they were the scum of the earth because they refuse to follow his peculiar views, I am
not “King James Only.”


JEFF> David and I first met twenty-five years ago this summer(09).


.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Houston You Have A Problem

Houston taxpayers could start footing the bill to help first-time homebuyers pay off debts and improve their credit scores, under a proposal before City Council this week.


The “Credit Score Enhancement Program” will give up to $3,000 in grants to individuals who are trying to qualify for mortgages through the city’s homebuyers assistance program. City officials say some applicants fall short of eligibility by only 10 or 20 points on their credit scores, and paying off some debt balances can quickly improve their numbers.


The proposal has aroused critics who say the city should not use public funds to help people pay down car loans, credit card balances, or other debts — even if the slight credit bump would help them realize the dream of home- ownership.


“We just can’t give away government money to help people with their credit scores,” Councilman Mike Sullivan said Monday. “You’re giving them other taxpayers’ money to pay off the bills.”


Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck called the program well intentioned but said it would go too far.


“If this credit crisis has taught us anything, we need to focus on paying off our debts and saving more,” she said. “Using government money to help someone pay off their debts is not the same as asking them to pay off their debts themselves.”


The $444,000 for the program is leftover money from a $1.5 million appropriation the city made for emergency home and roof repairs after Hurricane Ike.


The city has three programs that provide grants for down payments and closing costs for qualified homebuyers. The most generous one offers a $37,500 grant to buy a home that costs $135,000 or less, but only in certain disadvantaged Houston neighborhoods the city is trying to revitalize. Participants cannot earn more than 80 percent of the Houston median income.


Keep reading at Houston Chronicle



Monday, February 23, 2009

February 23, 1953

It was 56 years ago, that I discovered America at Coats and Brown Hospital in Tyler, Texas.

This morning Regena and I went to Denny's for my 'free' breakfast, and yes I ordered off the seniors menu.

I received a birthday card from Leah, as well as a text from her earlier this morning.



David, Melissa, Regena and I went to the Cariboo for supper, again another freebee for me.



While there David gave me an IPod nano from our children.

This evening I received a phone call from Andy in Afghan, which was a treat in itself.

On Sunday, the Spruceland Baptist Church gave me a cheque in which to by a new Dress Suit at Moores.

It is not so bad growing old after all.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Saturday Spurgeon - Simplicity and Sublimity of Salvation

Closing of the message

Let no man sit down here and cover his face, and say, “There is no hope for me. I cannot understand about this new birth.” If you will take Christ, to have and to hold, henceforth and forever, as your ONLY trust and confidence, you have received that which no line of ancestors could ever give you, for it is “not of blood.” You possess that which no will of
the father and mother could ever give you, for it is, “not of the will of the flesh.” You have that which your own will could not bring you, for it is, “not of the will of man.” You have that which only the Giver of Life can bestow, for it is, “of God!”

You are born again, for you have received Christ and believed on His name. I do not urge you to look within, to try and see whether this new birth is there. Instead of looking within yourself, look to Him who hangs on yonder Cross, dying, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God!

Fix your eyes on Him and believe in Him. And when you see in yourself much that is evil, look to Him. And when doubts prevail, look to Him. And when your conscience tells you of
your past sins, look to Him!


I have to go through this story almost every day of the year and sometimes half a dozen times in a day. If there is a despairing soul anywhere within 20 miles, it will find me out, no matter whether I am at home, or at Mentone, or in any other part of the world! It will come from any distance, broken down, despairing, half insane, sometimes, and I have no medicine to prescribe except, “Christ, Christ, Christ—Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Look away from yourselves and trust in Him!” I go over and over and over with this and never get one jot further.

Because I find that this medicine cures all soul sicknesses, while human quackery cures none! Christ alone is the one remedy for sin-sick souls!

Receive Him! Believe on His name!

We keep hammering at this. I can sympathize with Luther when he said, “I have preached justification by faith so often, and I feel, sometimes, that you are so slow to receive it, that I could almost take the Bible and bang it into your heads!” I am afraid that the Truth of God would not have entered their hearts if he had done so.

This is what we aim at—to get this one thought into a man, “You are lost and, therefore, such an One as Christ came to save.”


One said to me just lately, “Oh, Sir, I am the biggest sinner that ever lived!” I replied, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” “But I have not any strength.” “While we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died.”

“Oh, but,” he said, “I have been utterly ungodly.” “Christ died for the ungodly.” “But I am lost.” “Yes,” I said, “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” “The Son of man has come to save that which was lost.”

I said to this man, “You have the brush in your hand and at every stroke it looks as if you are quoting Scripture. You seem to be making yourself out to be the very man that Christ came to save! If you were to make yourself out to be good and excellent, I would give you this word—Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He did
not die for the good, but for the bad. He gave Himself for our sins—He never gave Himself for our righteousness. He is a Savior. He has not come, yet, as a Rewarder of the righteous—that will be in His Second Advent.

Now He comes as the great Forgiver of the guilty and the only Savior of the lost. Will you come to Him in that way?”

“Oh, but,” my friend said, “I have nothing to bring to Christ.” “No,” I said, “I know that you have not—but Christ has everything.” “Sir,” he said, “you do not know me, otherwise you would not talk to me like this.”

And I said, “No, and you do not know yourself—for you are worse than you think you are, though you think that you are bad enough in all conscience. But be you as bad as you may, Jesus Christ came on purpose to lift up from the dunghill those whom He sets among princes by His free, rich, Sovereign Grace.”

Oh, come and believe in Him, poor Sinner! I feel that if I had all your souls, I would believe in Christ for their salvation!

I would trust Him to save a million souls if I had them, for He is mighty to save! There can be no limit to His power to forgive! There can be no limit to the merit of His precious blood! There can be no boundary to the efficacy of His plea before the Throne of God! Only trust Him and you will be saved! May His gracious Spirit lead you to do so now, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Friday Funnies - Now that Valentines Day was last week ...

My wife walked into the den & asked "What's on the TV?" I replied "Dust". And that's how the fight started!!!


A woman is standing, looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.' The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's near perfect.' And that's how the fight started!!!


My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 200 in about 3 seconds.' I bought her a scale. And that's how the fight started!!!!


I asked my wife, 'Where do you want to go for our anniversary?' It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation. 'Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!' she said. So I suggested, 'How about the kitchen?' And that's how the fight started!!!


One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift. The next year, he didn't buy her a gift. When she asked him why, he replied, "Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!" And that's how the fight started!!!


My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. My wife asked, 'Do you know her?' 'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up back in college, and I hear she hasn't been sober since.' 'Wow!' says my wife. 'Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?' And that's how the fight started!!!


I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car.. You know how sometimes you just get so stressed and little things just seem funny? Yeah, well I couldn't believe it. He was a DWARF!!! He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, 'I AM NOT HAPPY!!!' So, I looked down at him and said, 'Well, then which one are you?' And that's how the fight started!!


I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first. 'I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.' He said, 'Aren't you worried about the mad cow?' 'Nah, she can order for herself.' And that's how the fight started!!!

The best part about have a fight is the “making out“, oh I mean ‘making up’ late.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Watch Your Wake

“None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself” –Rom. 14:7


While working out at the gym the other day I was talking to a friend who is in the boating business. He told me about a sign he has posted on the bridge of his boat. It simply says: “Watch You Wake.” I asked him what that meant. He said as a boat is propelled through the water it leave behind waves (a wake) that could be dangerous to other smaller vessels or erode the shoreline. Therefore, a person at the controls needs to be aware that his wake affects others in the area. “Watch Your Wake.”


As I reflected on this simple saying I thought how it should apply to our lives. As you and I travel through life, we are leaving a wake behind. We are leaving concentric ripples of influence upon others around us. We need to watch our wake, lest we “capsize” some smaller vessel or erode the coastline of our relationships.


Beware of being a stumbling block to others (Rom. 14:21; 1 Cor. 8:9).

an email from Al Hughes

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Doctrine Of Eternal Security

The Arminian calls eternal security a “damnable doctrine.” They reason that if on believes that “once he’s saved, he’s always saved” it will promote all manner of evil action. This is unfounded and puts man’s person above the clear teaching of God’s Word. Consider the true nature of salvation:



Salvation is a BIRTH

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5,6


Salvation is a GIFT

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8, 9

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Romans 11:29


Salvation is a SATISFACTION

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4:14

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
John 6:35


Salvation is EVERLASTING

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 3:36


Salvation is an INWARD change.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
II Peter 1:4

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
II Corinthians 5:17


Salvation is a PRESENT possession.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 5:24

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:28


Salvation is a TOTAL work of GRACE.

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Colossians 2:10



Salvation see us IN HEAVEN already.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4


Salvation is BEING KEPT by God.
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
II Timothy 1:12


Salvation is SIGNED, SEALED and DELIVERED.
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
I John 5:11, 12

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13, 14

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 1:24, 25


It is obvious from what the Word of God teaches that both Calvinism and Arminianism are unscriptural, heretical extremes. The arguments raised by Arminius against Calvinism led heim to an extremem view of the free will of man. The assumptions that because man has the power to exercise his will to receive the offr of god’s gift of salvation , that he can also by an act of tha will later repudiate and reject that salvation, is a faulty conclusion.

We, in exercising our free will, commit acts that we cannot undo by another act of that free will. The acts of fornication, adultery, abortions, etc., cannot be undone. Salvation occurs by an act of man’s exercising his free will. Once done it CANNOT be undone. Hallelujah!!!


Outline from Baptist Beware!
Outline Bible Studies
For Adults & Teens
By the late Dr. Gary S. Prisk
My friend who taught and shared w/ me - Mate’

Monday, February 16, 2009

Poem - If You Give Your All To Jesus

IF YOU GIVE YOUR ALL TO JESUS

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:10-14


For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
I Corinthians 9:19-22



If you give your all to Jesus,
And will not withhold a mite,
He will flood your soul with glory,
Make your pathway noon-day bright;
Unto him that overcometh,
Will God give a crown of life,
Toil on then my faithful brother,
Keep your courage in the strife.

If you’ll make the consecration,
Of your life and all you are,
He will be your loving Savior,
And your “Bright and Morning Star”;
He will lead you, ‘mid green pastures,
By the quiet waters still,
The longings of your aching heart,
He will by His Spirit fill.

When your life is all surrendered,
Body, spirit, soul and mind,
And your’ve left the land of Egypt,
With its bondage far behind;
When you see the hills of Canaan,
With their sunlit peaks in view,
You will then have crossed the Jordan,
To that land forever new.

By Benj. F. Dotson, D.D., Litt. D.
Pastor-Poet-Bible Teacher-Evangelist
1949

Saturday, February 14, 2009

John 3:16 Valentine Day part 2

Thanks again to Chuck

`For God

In 1773, the young pastor of a poor church in Wainsgate, England, was called to a large and influential church in London. John Fawcett was a powerful preacher and writer, and these skills had brought him this opportunity. But as the wagons were being loaded with the Fawcetts' few belongings, their people came for a tearful farewell. During the good-byes, Mary Fawcett cried, "John, I cannot bear to leave!" "Nor can I," he replied. "We shall remain here with our people." The wagons were unloaded, and John Fawcett spent his entire 54-year ministry in Wainsgate. Out of that Fawcett wrote, "Blest Be the Tie that Binds."

The tie that binds! Friend, our tie that binds is to the love of the eternal God!

`so loved

Manuel, age 8, was trying to explain about falling in love. He said: "I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." - Well, for God it was very painful!

A Spanish Philosopher said "It is sad not to be loved, but it is much sadder not to be able to love."

Billions of people today cannot love! The divorce rate is going through the roof. People are self-interested. Its there own needs above all others. Selfish love, even at the expense of their own children.

The Good news is You can be loved and love at the same time and its found in this verse John 3:16.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

The Wonder of Love and Kisses

The story goes that some time ago a man punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under their Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and exclaimed, "This is for you, Daddy!" He was so embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but then his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled, "Don't you know when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?" The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and whimpered, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty, I blew kisses into the box. And they're all for you, Daddy." The father was crushed as he put his arms around his little girl to beg forgiveness. It is told that this man kept that gold box by his bed for years, and whenever he was discouraged he would take out another imaginary kiss and remember the child who had lovingly blew it in there. In a real sense we too were given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses. They came from our children, our friends, families, and from God. What greater or more precious of a possession as a gift could any soul possess as their own?

WHEN LOVE FORGETS SELF

William Gladstone was announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons and he told this touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child's breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!" Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord.

Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn't count the cost.

For 36 years Jeno and his wife delighted in one another. But one day Jeno suffered a stroke. For weeks he lay in the hospital, slipping in and out of a coma. Day and night his wife sat at his side. One evening, she put her head on his hand and fell asleep. Jeno awoke during the night and seeing his wife, picked up an envelope and pencil and scribbled these words: "Softly, I will leave you, for my heart would break if you should wake and see me go. So I leave you. Long before you miss me. Long before your arms can beg me stay for one more hour, one more day. After all of the years, I can't stand the tears to fall, so I leave you softly."

`the world

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world

God could have loved anything. What did He choose to love? The world! He is not talking about "sod" but souls! The world of mankind. God so chose to love us!

The ancient Hebrew was a true aristocrat. Study the times and you see that out in a hurry. They looked down with disgust at all gentiles and they called them "dogs." In contrast, God's love is not limited. When John wrote this, he wrote to inform us all that God loves the world - not just the Jews! He loves the WHOLE world! That is something Jewish readers stumbled over here. Who could comprehend a holy God loving gentiles? And some gentiles wonder how God could love the Jews. Well, He loves the world! He loves sinners everywhere.

His love never belongs just to one nation. Not just to the nice people. And not just those who love Him. He loves the whole world including the unlovable and the unlovely! He loves the lonely with no one else to love of them. He loves the one who loves God and He loves the one who never thinks of God! He loves everyone from every tribe and every nation. God loves the whole world! When we send missionary dollars to the world, we send God's message of love. We are sending the message of John 3:16.

He loves the world of sinful men. As the Bible says, "the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one." One writer explained it as, "Like a sunken vessel in a putrid stream, submerged under the tide of evil." Descriptive, and yet every evil person in the lap of the evil one, God loves!

Now, let me help you understand what it means to say He "loves" the world. Does God's love for the world diminish His love for you? If you can see and someone else is blind, if the blind begins to see, does that diminish our own capacity to see? No – we share it alike.

"In due time Christ died for us!" I appreciate learning that in due time Christ died for ME! I am just one little person in a big city! Strolling down the streets of Hong Kong, I realized how I am as nothing compared to so many people of Hong Kong. Think of all of China! So how can God have enough love left over to care so much about me? We wonder because we understand God's love in the light of our own! I've done it myself - people "fall in love!" Is that impressive? Then what happens if they "fall out?" If you depend on just your feelings to fuel your love, what happens when you don't feel much?

None of us can love a MULTITUDE with the same intensity that we love our own children. No patriot loves his COUNTRY like he loves his daughter. I love this whole valley of people but I don't love this city like I love my wife. The problem is, we don't understand God's love because we look at it like our own.

The wonder of the love of God is this: Stretch your imagination and imagine billions! Every single soul is loved like there is no one else. Our awesome Lord is moved in the depths of His heart for all the multitudes. Yet consider that when He was dying on the cross for the whole world, He stopped and helped a man next to Him to get to Heaven. See? He loves the whole world as if there were only one person in our world. With this truth, we can go to a person and say, "I want to tell you something so important and so great, "God loves you." That's the kind of love God has for you, like you are the only one. Would Jesus suffer the cross just for you alone? Yes! It is you who He loves!

It is somewhat like the story of a very wealthy young man who had all that a person could want--materially. However, he was born with a deformity which left him with a very ugly face. Because of this one flaw he would stay in his house and walk around in his garden, which was closed in by a high wall.

However, in the evening he would leave his walled-in garden and walk down the seashore. One night he heard beautiful music. He hid himself in the shadows, and there he saw a young girl playing a violin. Each night he would leave his house, walk down to the seashore and listen to the young lady play the beautiful music. However, because of his ugliness he would hide in the shadows, hoping not to be seen.

Later, the young man told his servant, "Take this money and give it to the lady with the violin, in order that she may go to the best school of music in Europe and master the beautiful music." After years of study, she returned home and was taken to the house of the man who paid for her education. He was standing in his garden. The gate was opened for her and she came up behind him, threw her arms around his waist and cried, "I love you! I love you!"

He said, "No, it's impossible for you to love me." All the more she cried, "I love you." The young man turned around and said, "How can you love me when you see much ugliness in my face?"

She replied, "You see, sir, I'm blind."

LETTER TO A WIFE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

"I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged and my courage does not falter. I know how American civilization leans upon the triumph of the government. I know how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down the joys of this life to help maintain this government and to help pay that debt. Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with many cables that nothing but Omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all those blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the future years, when God willing, we might have loved and lived together, and watched our boys grow up around us to honorable manhood. If I do not return my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield it will whimper your name."

Major Sullivan Ballou, of the Union Army, to his wife Sarah. One week later, Major Ballou was killed at the first battle of Bull Run.

`that He gave

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

I read:

I was hungry and you formed a humanities club

And discussed my hunger.... Thank you.

I was imprisoned and you crept off

Quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.

I was naked and in your mind you debated

The morality of my appearance.

I was sick and you knelt

And thanked God for my health.

I was homeless and you preached to me

Of the shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely and you left me alone

To pray for me.

You seem so holy; so close to God;

But I'm still very hungry, and lonely, and cold....

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

In The Grace of Giving, Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.

"No, Peter," General Washington said. "I cannot grant you the life of your friend."

"My friend!" exclaimed the old preacher. "He's the bitterest enemy I have."

"What?" cried Washington. "You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I'll grant your pardon." And he did.

Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata—no longer an enemy but a friend.

- Lynn Jost

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Near Mobile, Alabama there was a railroad bridge that spanned a big bayou. The date was September 22, 1993. It was a foggy morning just before 3:00 a.m. when a tugboat accidentally pushed a barge into the bayou. The drifting barge slammed into the bridge.

In the darkness no one could see the extent of the damage, but someone on the tugboat radioed the Coast Guard to inform them. Moments later an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, reached the bridge. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Miami.

Unaware of the damage, the train crossed the bridge at 70 mph. There were 210 passengers on board. As the weight of the train crossed the damaged support, the bridge gave away. Three locomotive units and the first four of the train's 8 passenger cars fell into the alligator infested bayou. The darkness and fog was thickened by fire and smoke.

The tugboat operator immediately called in a frantic message to the Coast Guard. It was so far back in the swamp, emergency vehicles were only able to get within 6 miles of the site on land. Helicopters were called in to help rescue the survivors. Many people made it, but 47 people drowned or died in the flames and went out into eternity.

There were many heroes that morning. One was Michael Dopheide. He was a young man who had just finished college, and was heading to Florida after a visit with his sister in California. Jolted awake, he heard the screaming and cries all around him. He ran down the aisle to an emergency exit, and as the water was rising he removed the glass, and jumped into the swampy waters that were 25 ft deep. Treading water, he coaxed people to jump the six feet down into the bayou. Those who couldn't swim he helped to a metal girder 10' ft away. The thirty people he helped save included one two year old, an elderly lady, and a 11 year old girl with cerebral palsy named Andrea. Her parents, Geray and Mary Jane Chancey, were traveling home with their little girl. As they were waiting to get out, the car shifted and filled with water. They desperately pushed little Andrea out through the window to the hands of waiting rescuers.

This was their last act of love for their daughter. Instead of getting out themselves, they chose to give their lives to save their child. This is the same kind of love Jesus had when He chose to die on the cross for You!

Jesus said in (John 10:18) No man taketh it (his life) from me, but I lay it down of myself..." He chose to die for our sins, and now He offers to us Eternal Life!

`His only begotten Son

A little boy quoting this said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only FORGOTTEN Son." Funny kid! But when you think about it, God did turn His back on His Son. It's like He FORGOT Him that He might REMEMBER you! When our son died, we were an ocean away. It grieved us that we were not there to hold his hand. When God's Son died, the person of the Father was separated by an ocean of our sin, and the Father, holy and separate from sin could not go there to rescue Jesus!

A missionary preached this text to natives who never heard it before. They asked, "Is it true? Is it really true?" He kept affirming that it was. They asked, "And how can you speak of such love without tears?"

A man was taking pictures for two years compiling a book of photographs at the Vietnam War Memorial and one morning as he went there and none seemed to be around he noticed a new little memorial and it had two flags: an American flag and a Greek flag, and there was a picture of a soldier and a three word inscription. As he was taking the pictures a man said, "Excuse me sir do you like it?" And the photographer said, "I do." He said, "I'm glad, that's my boy!" And then the photographer read those three words again, "ONLY ONE SON."

You see God has only one son, and He gave him for you. All the blood and agony and hell of that cross was for you. Why? . . . To keep you from dying forever.

See, right now, we are perishing like that verse says in John 3:16. We're perishing because we're sinners with a death penalty. But it changes, that verse says, when I "believe in Him." That means, not just something you do with your head but with all your heart. When you pin all your hopes on Jesus, like a drowning man with a life-guard. When a man or woman hits this truth, it does something to your heart. God's looking at the cross where His son died for you and He says, "What do you think of that? That's my Boy."

`that whosoever

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (John 8:34).


Someone who has slipped into here tonight has had your brush with the occult: Toehold, Foothold, Stronghold in your life. And so if the familiar spirits have entered your body, they will tell you this is fine for somebody else but not for you. You have gone too far! I want to tell you about a word that I read in the Bible. It's the word – "whosover". Whosoever! Whoever!

"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." (John 12:46).

That can be me and that can be you. So the spirits will resist and they will insist, "No! You have no power to believe! You have no will of your own! You belong to the devil!" That's a lie!!!! What did Jesus tell the liars, the big shot religious leaders of His day?

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44). The devil is a LIAR!

"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." (Mat. 23:12).

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21).


"Whosoever"! – "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!" (Rom. 10:13).


"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him." (1 John 5:1).

John 3:16 – "whosoever"! And just so we would not miss the point, the Lord gave us verse 15.

"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:15-19).

"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." (Luke 18:17).

"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27).


We don't need to talk to devils when it's time to talk to Jesus. But if we did we might say, "Devil! Jesus said: 'Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God'" (Luke 12:8). And so I'm right now just calling upon Jesus! Right now, I'm believing in Jesus! And right now, I confess Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord!

Take heed! Jesus said:


"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." (Mat. 10:32-33).


"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." (Mark 8:35).


When I was in school we liked to see the annual. But the key point in looking first of all was to see my own picture and my name.


You know, we're all like that. When our name is in something we're suddenly a whole lot more interested. It's that way in all the Bible. John 3:16 has probably the most dramatic answer in all the world to any questions we have about how God feels about us. God loved the world so much that He gave...He proved it...He acted on it...His one and only Son, the most valuable thing He could give. Why? So we who deserve to die can live forever instead.


"Does God love me?" – That question has been settled forever. All we have to do is to look at the cross!

Now, about putting your name in it--John 3:16. When I leave a blank, put your name in it. "God loved ______ so much that He gave His one and only Son so that if ______ would believe in Him then ______ will never die but will have eternal life." It says you have to believe in Him to have that happen. That's total trust...the kind that someone in a fire has in a fireman who comes to rescue him...the kind that a drowning person puts in a lifeguard. This is awesome love, this gift of God's Son, was all for you but you have to reach out and take the gift.


Something happens dramatically when you walk up to the cross of Jesus and say two words, "For me. This is for me, isn't it Jesus? Some of those sins you're dying for are mine." God's waiting right now to erase every sin you've ever done from His book...to add your name to His Book of Life; the one He will check when your heart finally stops and you stand before Him. But, it all begins when you put your name in what Jesus did on the cross for you and you make The Savior--Your Savior.


If you've never done that, and today you sense Jesus knocking on the door of your heart, would you please let me know that. When your name is in something it makes all the difference. Well, today may be your day to realize that what Jesus did was not generic. It was specifically for you.

Mr. Kline was discouraged and defeated and life was hardly worth living, that's mainly because there was no one who cared for him. One day he was walking past a church on a Sunday evening when the services were in progress. As the congregation sang, he caught the words of a familiar hymn, "Saved by grace alone, this is all my plea, Jesus died for all mankind and Jesus died for me." Mr. Kline's hearing was not so good, so when the congregation came to "Jesus died for all mankind," he thought they sang "Jesus died for old-man Kline!" That's pretty good confusion! So he went in to find out if that was really true! He said, "That's ME they're singing about!" So he stopped dead in his tracks and entered the small auditorium. There this one so discouraged and defeated heard the simple message of the Gospel as the preacher explained the truth. True - "Jesus died for all mankind" and in that death included Old man Kline.


`believeth in Him

What does the word "believeth" do? It excludes everybody who does not believe! Scripture does not teach the doctrine of universalism. That is to say, Jesus saved everyone so you just need to go tell them, "Hey, you are saved!" Then why bother? A lot of people teach this universalism but it never comes from God, that all roads lead to Heaven. It would be foolish to go to the mission field to try to explain that -- and the Bible does not teach that.


A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.


`should not perish


The perishing in context teaches means, "Should not face condemnation!" That's what we read in verse 18. This "perish" means to be forever out of the presence of God, never to be in His presence with His acceptance or approval! Divine condemnation and the exact opposite of everlasting life! When you "PERISH" you simply do not have everlasting life. You are cast into outer darkness. That's the difference.


MIRACLE ON THE RIVER KWAI


In Miracle on the River Kwai, the Scottish soldiers were forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad. It had degenerated to barbarous behavior.


But one afternoon something happened.


A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point.


The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers.


When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors . . (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: 'No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.'

`but have everlasting life.

Whosoever - "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Mat. 16:25).


Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened.


LOVE IS COSTLY


She was lying on the ground. In her arms she held a tiny baby girl. As I put a cooked sweet potato into her outstretched hand, I wondered if she would live until morning. Her strength was almost gone, but her tired eyes acknowledged my gift.

The sweet potato could help so little—but it was all I had. Taking a bite she chewed it carefully. Then, placing her mouth over her baby's mouth, she forced the soft warm food into the tiny throat. Although the mother was starving, she used the entire potato to keep her baby alive. Exhausted from her effort, she dropped her head on the ground and closed her eyes. In a few minutes the baby was asleep. I later learned that during the night the mother's heart stopped, but her little girl lived. Love is a costly thing. God in His love for us (and for a lost world) "spared not His own Son" to tell the world of His love. Love is costly, but we must tell the world at any cost. Such love is costly. It costs parents and sons and daughters. It costs the missionary life itself. In his love for Christ the missionary often must give up all to make the Savior known. If you will let your love for Christ, cost you something, the great advance will be made together.


Amazing Grace how sweet that sound that saved a wretch like me.


Now if you still do not understand what makes GOD's grace amazing understand:


Sin made weeping endure for a night but it was Amazing Grace that brought joy in the morning


Sin made us fall short of the Glory of GOD but it is Amazing Grace that is able to keep us from falling


Sin made us accumulate a lot of debt but it is Amazing Grace that allow you to paid it in full


Sin made gotten us in much trouble, but it is Amazing Grace that said not guilty


Amazing Grace to walk on this earth for 33 years.


Sin put whips on his back but Amazing Grace allow us to be heal


Sin took him from judgment hall to judgment hall all batter and bruise, but Amazing Grace blot out our iniquity


Sin said crucify him and Amazing grace did not say a word to reject us!


Sin thought he was dead all day Friday, all day Saturday, but early one Sunday morning Amazing Grace rose with all power in his hand.


I can hear Amazing Grace saying, death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory. Thank you, GOD for your Amazing Grace. For it is Grace that brought me this far and it is Grace that will bring me home.


SONG - "The Love of God."

This has been much loved in the church for many years. But when you read it in sheet music, look for a little note down by the second stanza. You see the second stanza of "The Love of God" was written by an inmate in an insane asylum. After a poor soul died, they found the second stanza of the song scribbled on the wall of his cell.


Listen! "If we with ink the ocean fill, and were the sky a parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Oh love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong, it shall forevermore endure the saints and angels song."


Who knows why some man was thrown into an insane asylum? But even there, shut away from the world's activities or earthly beauty, in his cell he felt the love of God so much that he had to write it down. God's presence was real!

When did you believe in the sufficiency of Jesus' death on the cross for you and say I'm the sinner who wants this Savior? Irene and I were married on August 17, 1973. But if someone were to ask if I was married and I said, "Oh, I hope so, I think so. Probably somewhere along the way." They'd probably say, "Buddy, if that's all you know about it, you probably aren't!" It's the same way with a relationship with Jesus Christ. We know if we asked Him to be our Savior!


A plant nursery displayed this sign: "The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is today." God has given us the most important Book ever written to help us to know Him for our good.

If you've ever checked your suitcase when you're about to take a plane trip, you know what they do. The agent determines your final destination, prints out an adhesive sticker, and puts it around the suitcase handle. Then you can know the bags will meet you at the other end of the trip. With the millions of bags the airlines handle daily, it's amazing that most go straight to the right destination. MOST of the time.


If you belong to Jesus Christ, God has placed a final destination sticker on you. And it says "Heaven." I am happy to report that, unlike human delivery systems, God's record is 100%! He delivers what is in His care to the final destination as He promised. He has never lost one that was entrusted to Him.


Jesus says, "I know the ones who are Mine. And I've put My final destination sticker on them. It reads 'eternal life.' No one is going to get them away from Me because I won't stop until I've delivered them safely home." Isn't that awesome?


Maybe you've missed that actual moment of commitment when before Jesus' cross you say, "For me, Jesus. What you did here is for me. So right now dear Jesus, I choose to give me to You."


I know I'm always inadequate explain this verse fully, but let's just quote it again – John 3:16.