This week I received a letter in the mail from Houston concerning some of my Mother's family property. Enclosed was an Affidavit of Heirship they were asking me to fill out. The first question asked how long did I know the Decedent? (My Mother) Unusual question. My first impulse was to say all my life. However, I subtracted my birth year from her death year and came up with 57 years. What? I only had my Mother for a mere 57 years? This is the woman that made me who I am along with my Dad of course who I only had for 36 years and 6 of those years he was serving his country as a Marine during WWII.
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Although David was only one of the writers of the book most people think of “the sweet singer of Israel” when they think of Psalms. Moses, Solomon, Asaph and the sons of Korah are some of the others mentioned in regard to the authorship of this rich section of Holy Writ. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119 with 176 verses, divided into 22 stanzas of 8 verses each. The overall theme of that lengthy section is the Word of God. Nearly every verse extols the virtues of Heaven's revelation to man. Typically, the contents of this chapter illustrate marvelously the salient themes of Psalms.
Our congregation at Bumby is spending a year in the Psalms. This week we are reading Psalms 24-26. Psalm 24 is about “The King of Glory”, 25 “The Secret of the Lord” 26 “Walk in Integrity”. If you would like to catch up with us also read Psalms 1 “Progressive Nature of Sin, and Psalms 2 “God's Son in Judgment” Christ's favorite Old Testament section must have been Psalms because He quoted from it more often than any other book! As one reads the sacred pages of this lovely part of Scriptures the power and beauty of verse after verse warms and thrills the heart. In the devotional setting of Psalms we can see the strength of meditating upon divine mandates as we strive to glorify God, our Creator. Perhaps the central thought of this book of praise is 95:6-7. "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God; and dwe are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand."
What Does Jesus Mean To You? You can share your answer below in comments, post it on my Face Book Page or send me an email. After answering, click on button below, or click on page "Think on this" to see what Jesus means to me.
Silence of Mary Jim GarrettWe read the scripture in John 19:25 that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there at the cross watching her Son suffer and slowly die yet there is no mention of her saying a word. Mary stood there in silence!!
My mother would have been yelling & screaming NOOOOOO!!! But Mary knew Jesus was her first born, a virgin birth, the true Son of God. She had carried him in her womb on a donkey to Bethlehem where He was born in a manger. She had held him and like all mothers had probably counted His fingers and toes. The very fingers that had scooped out the valleys, created the mountains, the toes that had trod the earth, the lips that had spoken everything into being. When she kissed His little cheeks, she was kissing the Face of God. Can you imagine Jesus childhood? Can you imagine what His brothers probably went through? Mary would get exasperated at one of them and say, “why can’t you be like Jesus? He is perfect.” Have you ever gone into your child’s room and wondered where you went wrong? Mary might have said, “Jesus, what is the matter with you? Look at your room! Were you born in a barn?” Mary knew, she was there when the shepherds’ came, she was there when He stayed behind on His Father’s business in the Temple. And now she was there at the cross witnessing Him fulfilling the scriptures. She had delivered Him in the manger in Bethlehem and here at Calvary He was delivering her. And Mary stood there in silence as she watched Jesus fulfill the scriptures and do what only He could do – offer the ultimate sacrifice for the salvation for all of us. I hope last week's video lesson presented by David Duncan will make you want to obey God's commandments out of love and Revential Awe rather than fear of punishment. In thinking about what people have obeyed from the beginning of time, let us go back to Adam and Eve
. The record says, in Genesis 3:1 " Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? and the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat therof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit therof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. " Now, of course, the question just automatically comes, Who did these obey? The answer is very obvious: they obeyed the voice of Satan, not the voice of the people, not the multitude, but the voice of Satan. Do you think because you cannot see him today that you can't fall into this category? That you can't obey the voice of Satan? Don't be too certain! Satan himself uses devices. Paul said, "We are not ignorant of his devices." And we should beware, lest Satan should get an advantage over us, using his devices. Obeying People
We need to find examples in the Testament to determine what people have obeyed. We have just studied about what Saul obeyed. He admitted himself that he had obeyed the people. Listen to this confession:"And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have the commandment of the Lord, and thy words; because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice..” I You might think that would never happen to you, but are you sure? Your group at school is going to something that you know is wrong. Because of the of the group, you succumb to their will. You have obeyed the voice of the people rather than doing the thing you know is right. Later on in life, in business dealings, there are a few shady activities connected with that business. Too many times in business, this happens.It is just on the border line of illegal, but not too bad. Everybody is doing it, and getting away with it. It is not as open and above-board 'as you might want it to be. But you excuse on the basis that others are doing the same , and so obey the voice of the people ratherthan the voice of God. Another ticklish situation might be in a family realtionship. Suppose you learn the truth of the gospel, but knowing that it would create a scene at home, you do not obey the gospel. There have been people who have been cut off from their family because they obeyed the gospel. Not many have had to suffer that calamity, but I have known a few. These who obeyed felt that they should obey God rather than their parents. But you may not be willing to cause that rift in the family. Can't you that you have placed yourself in the same category as did King Saul? You have listened to the voice of the family, rather than to the voice of God. Just suppose a man learns that the Bible is the only standard of authority. But you wish to become a member of a particular religious group which demands that you subscribe to some creed, manual, confession of faith, prayer book, catechism, Science and , or Book of Mormon. You want in that group you like the social life, or the good it can do your business. But you must agree to subscribe to their creed, and you do. Would you not also be obeying the voice of the people? There is an exhortation given in the Old Testament 'which most of us are familiar. In Exodus 23:2, we find, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil ... " Simply because the majority of people are engaged in some activity does not give you or me the license or right to participate in it. We need to be careful not to be , as Saul was,of obeying the voice of the people. Obedience is a Bible topic that is often discussed, but it is a very difficult lesson to learn. Why is this? We all recognize the fact that we are the creation of God, and in our more sober thoughts we all recognize the fact that God has never asked us to do anything that is not good for us, regardless of what it was. Every time we do what the Lord has told us to do, it turns out to be a blessing and a benefit to us. And, without exception, every time we fail to do, or disobey what the Lord has said, it goes contrary, or against us. It does seem that we are very slow students, insofar as learning the lesson of obedience.
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What is RSS? Mike MinearI live in Orlando, Fl with my wife Dolores. We have 3 children, 10 grand-children and 5 great-grandchildren. Every Wednesday I publish articles concerning Christian Living and spreading the Good News. Archives
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Orlando, Fl Sunday Bible Study 9:30 am Sunday Worship 10:30am 5:30 pm Wednesday Bible Study 7:30p Josh Creel's Podcast and Blog
The Bible SpeaksBible Study Aids by Robert Harkrider
Study workbooks for teenagers, by David Banning
by Mark Copeland
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