by Jerry Kingery

Harden not your heart

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul almost dwelt in silence.
When I said my foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice,
Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

from Psalms 94 – 96

For a free Scripture packet, please write From the Bible, BIBLE FOUNDATION, PO Box 908, Newberg, Oregon 97132; email: bf@bf.org.

Having the privilege to closely watch my two youngest nieces grow up is a joy and an honor. They bring so much laughter and wonder to the world, and have truly transformed the landscape of my life. I don’t take their presence in my life for granted, knowing that they were both Heaven-sent for such a time as this for our family and the world.
With that said, because of the closeness we share I’m able to often be around to witness their epic crying spells. You name it, at ages two and four they can be set off like a firecracker display on the 4th of July from one of my favorite movies, Shag. Not being able to watch “Peppa Pig”, not having their favorite popsicle color, not wanting to share, not getting their way, not feeling well, not being able to find their sunglasses or headband, not being able to wear flip flops in winter, not feeling clean (you catch my drift), not having their parents around, not understanding “no”, and so many other things can trigger some eye showers that rival that of a New York City park fountain.
When I say these girls can cry, ohhhhhhwwwwweeee, they can cry. But, just like that, a change in condition, a distraction, a met need, or simply a silly gesture from the other can dry up those tears faster than ink dries on the loose leaf paper of a fourth grade student. It’s amazing. It really is. They can turn on the tears, let them flow with or without what we might deem valid reasons, then stop…just like that. Once it’s over, rarely is there a return. There’s no holding on to whatever made them cry. There’s no revisiting it. In fact, sometimes they literally don’t even remember it. There’s no holding grudges at whomever was the target of those tears. There’s no talking about it over and over. There’s no allowing the haziness of their eyes and saturated cheeks to stop them from resuming their very busy world of playing, swaying and eating. There’s no good night’s sleep compliments of a hearty cry then waking up the next morning to start the tear-fest over again. They have this uncanny ability to get it out and keep it moving. I love it and admire that quality in them. Yes, they are some cry babies at times. But if all I have to do is get it out and keep it moving then I wanna be a cry baby too.

Contact Angela Scott Moore about speaking engagements at amazingkreations2@gmail.com, follow her blog at www.angelamooreblog.wordpress.com, on twitter at @AngelaMMoore316 or check out her facebook page for people experiencing separation or divorce at I’m More Than What Happened.

ADAM
I suppose you are wondering – why Adam? Well,if you are wondering, please allow me to brief you, because the depth is vast. You will find in the Bible in the Book of Joshua 3, which tells about the Israelites crossing Jordan, in order to complete their journey into their enemies’ territory, which was Canaan.  God told Joshua to prepare to cross Jordan, and in their preparatory plan, Joshua reminded the portion of the tribes who had possessed their part of the land, on the East side of Jordan to remember their brethren who had not possessed their part of the land God promised to all – Israel. This tells you that no one should disconnect, until all have connected. The connection should always remain in the original plan. God made the plan and the plan is that we all receive salvation,for it is free for all. Therefore, you should seek salvation for all, by looking to Jesus and His Cross.
Well, where is Adam in all this, you asked? I am glad you reminded me. Now I know you are thinking. When the priest’s feet touched the brim of Jordan River, which had by far overflowed its banks, the waters receded back to Adam, and the priest proceeded to the bottom of Jordan River and stood there with the Ark, while all Israel passed over. The wisdom and revelation of God in this is, when Jesus died on His Cross, He died for all your sins that Adam brought upon men and all creation in the Garden. Now that Jesus took your sins upon Himself, you should look to the Cross of Jesus, AFTER YOU ARE BORN AGAIN, daily for a continuous living for Jesus by reading and meditating on His Word, and look for guidance from the Holy Spirit. Scripture says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “Not by WORKS, lest any man should boast, it is the gift of God”.
www.thealmightyeyes.com

Receiving An Explosion of Light
Late one night, a burglar broke into a house that he thought was empty. He tiptoed through the living room but suddenly he froze in his tracks when he heard a loud voice say, “God is watching you!” Silence returned to the house, so the burglar crept forward again. “God is watching you,” the voice boomed again. The burglar stopped in his tracks again. He was frightened. Frantically, he looked all around. In a dark corner, he spotted a bird cage and in the cage was a parrot. He asked the parrot, “Was that you who said ‘God is watching me?’” “Yes”, said the parrot. The burglar breathed a sigh of relief, and then he asked the parrot: “What’s your name?” “Clarence,” said the bird. “That’s a dumb name for a parrot,” sneered the burglar. “What idiot named you Clarence?” The parrot said, “The same idiot who named the pit bull over there, Devil.”
What we do in the dark will always come to the light especially if we are doing wrong. What we need is a special light, a light comes from within. Many of us have a hard time receiving the explosion of light that comes from Jesus Christ as our Savior. We struggle with the concept of Jesus as light in the darkness of our lives because we love night more than day, darkness more than light. But when we become aware of who we are in God and who He is in us we follow Him all the way. Following Christ as light is not a doing thing (we do need to repent and be baptized), but a being thing. When we become one with Christ we receive the explosion of light that is our heritage and inheritance.
There are two ways of receiving this eruption of light. First we receive a flood of brightness when we see God the Creator and creation as one. What do I mean? Many of us believe that God is the Creator and this universe is the created, and the created can never become the creator. How can a painting become the painter? How can a poem become the poet? Impossible! If the poem tries to become the poet, the poem has gone mad; if the painting claims ‘I am the painter,’ then the painting has gone wrong. We believe we are the creatures and God is the Creator. This is the base of our Judeo/Christian heritage. I say God is both creation and creator which is the reason Jesus in human form (created) and Christ in spirit (creation) says, “I am the light of the world.” We too are the created (human form) and being born again in the Spirit connects us with this light of the world.
Second, we receive a flood of brightness when we see the part of life that we call humanity as the whole of life that we call God. This is another way of saying our goal in life is to discover who we are in God and who God is in us. The explosion of light hits us when we discover that following our baptism, we need only accept the fact that we are connected to God in a new way. We are human beings, not human doings! We are no longer the part looking for the whole we are connected through this new awareness with this new light which is the living God. This is what Jesus meant when He says, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Our problem is we think of following Christ as doing something and not being something. Jesus has already died for our sins, we need only accept Him as Savior and become who He intended us to be.
In order to follow Christ we must accept our self as part of the whole of creation and not separate from the Creator. We are a drop in the ocean but there is also ocean in every drop of us. This realization is an explosion of light and from this light we become aware of our connection with God as the whole of life including our universe and beyond.

  The first thing God asks of any believer is to offer himself or herself as a living sacrifice. And, even when you say “Yes, Lord I will die to myself”, the battle is just beginning. It took Abraham nearly a hundred years to sacrifice himself on the altar of God’s perfect will. It took Moses eighty years to reach the point where he was able to set himself apart for God to use him to free an entire nation from slavery and death. It took the Apostle Paul fourteen or more years to reach this point after being struck down by blindness on the road to Damascus. He had to go to the desert of Arabia to seek God’s face. He had to go through torture and disappointment. Eventually he was able to say, “I am crucified with Christ.” The reverberation from his “not me, but Christ who lives in me” continues to this day.
Every man and woman who has been used mightily of God to reach others, changed their cities or other nations, had similar sounding testimonies of learning how to crucify themselves without regard to self – preservation or self – worth.
There are so many crises surrounding us, our streets and young people in particular. The solution to our problems today is the same as it was in wars and crises past, God. God uses dead men. When we remove ourselves from the struggle for prestige, glitz, and glamour, we are then able to draw Him to the scene. I believe God will raise up an awesome army to get the job done.
Until the next week.

Join us as we welcome Fall, Saturday, October 4, from 9 a.m. ‘til 3 p.m. All day fun, food, games, and a youth talent show. All free. Location: 1024 Ethel Lane, Trussville, AL off Hwy 11. Have a great week!