But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves. Acts 27:41

I read an article today written by an Intensive Care Nurse about the way people suffer when on the ICU unit. She explained how often the treatment given is just a prolonging of the inevitable. There are times when someone in the family will say “do what it takes to save them” and the doctors follow the directive and then other times when a family member says “let them go” and the doctors won’t. I found the article interesting because it’s somewhat like that in the lives of people that say or believe they are healthy. There are times when some things are inevitable, you cannot avoid them. Death is one of them but not just physical death but also relationship death, emotional death, financial death and spiritual death. Unfortunately, too many people are listening to others rather than make a decision for themselves leading everyone to be stuck together.

The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. Job 3:19
 
In order to be free, you must be willing to make a concrete decision  about what you want to do in life and let others know. In medicine, a Living Will will address this issue and in life sometimes you need to write down your wishes, likes or dislikes for others to understand and respect your position. If you don’t make what you want clear, you will find yourself stuck in a place of hopelessness. A place you don’t want to be and are very unhappy with. Don’t get stuck in a place you don’t want to be or doing something you don’t want to do. SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF and be free.

It’s your life – not theirs,
Minister Deidra Bibb

Taken from Eurweb.com
You may or may not be aware that a Black man, Rev. Fred Luter, is head of the overwhelmingly white Southern Baptist Convention. For the record, he’s the organization’s first ever Black president.
It should come as no surprise that Rev. Luter is down with Phil Robertson‘s biblical views on homosexuality but parts ways with the  “Duck Dynasty” patriarch’s memory of race relations before the Civil Rights movement.
As we reported, Robertson, in a GQ magazine interview, said that in his Louisiana youth he picked cotton with African-Americans and never saw “the mistreatment of any Black person,” adding that they were “singing and happy” and didn’t complain about white people.
Obviously that’s not the reality of millions of Blacks in Louisiana, including Rev. Luter who grew up in New Orleans. He flat out says back in the day in Louisiana there was nothing happy about segregation or “being hung in a tree because of your race.” He adds that Blacks were definitely complaining, if not to Robertson.
But as we said up top, Luter defends Robertson’s quotation of a Bible passage that calls homosexual acts sinful. The pastor says he didn’t consider those remarks hateful.
Fans of “Duck Dynasty” have rallied to support Robertson after the A&E network put him on indefinite “hiatus” from the reality show.

by Jerry Kingery

From everlasting to everlasting

Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto  David in thy truth?
Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen and Amen.
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

from Psalms 89 – 90

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

“You are my friends, if you do what I command” (John 15:14).

“’What a Friend We Have in Jesus,’ is my favorite hymn,” Billy Graham said when being asked by a reporter. In the Bible, Jesus is called by several names. He is called Christ, Saviour, Lord, and Master. I believe “friend” is the favorite among those who actively follow Him.
Being a friend implies a close relationship. It means that He knows us and loves us, and we know Him and love Him. We love Him because He first loved us, and as the old hymn says, He bore our sins and grief.
Jesus was the best, kindest, and sweetest man ever to walk on the face of this earth, but He was treated like a thief or murderer. He was arrested, hauled off to jail, and tried several times. He was falsely accused, and witnesses lied about Him. He was beaten and tortured. A crown of large thorns was put on His head and beaten down until they pierced His flesh. Blood flowed down His face, making Him almost unrecognizable. In His bloody, weakened condition, He was forced to carry a heavy wooden cross to the top of a hill called Golgotha. The crowds along the way spit on Him, called Him names, and laughed at Him.
At Golgotha, they stripped Him of His clothes, and nailed Him to the cross, hammering large spikes through His hands and feet. They stood His cross up between two thieves. There, He suffered great thirst and pain for many hours before He died.
As the prophet said, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Because He paid the price for our sins, we don’t have to.
Oh, what a friend!

Dr. Robert Wilkerson is a minister, writer, and founder of People for the Christian Way, an organization whose mission is to encourage all people to practice Christian principles in business, politics, and every area of life. drbobwilkerson@bellsouth.net, www.peopleforthechristianway.com

Urgency of the Ticking Clock

Rev. Joseph R. Reid

A woman dies and goes to heaven. She is greeted by St. Peter, who offers to give her a tour of heaven. As the woman walks around, she notices many clocks. Some go very fast, while others move very slowly. When the tour is done, the woman asks St. Peter why some clocks move at varied speeds. St. Peter replies, “Each clock represents a person on earth. Every time we lie, or miss an opportunity to contact our Spiritual self, our clock speeds up. As you can see, people’s clocks are separated by committed believers and Hypocrites. Over here are the faithful who trust God and are on a sincere spiritual journey, and over there are people who attend church and claim to be religious but have not found God yet.” The woman nods. “Where are the Hypocrites’ clocks?” she asks. St. Peter replies, “We’re using them in the back as air conditioners.”
This may sound humorous but the ticking clock is urgent in our life. Daily awareness of this internal clock reminds us to be watchful how we live, to utilize every moment of life’s precious gift and to always seek God’s will for our life. The problem is we fail to live our life in full awareness of the internal clock that ticks daily toward our transition or death. If we fail to see, use and seek God’s will in full awareness of the urgency of the ticking clock in our life we will miss our opportunity in this and the next. Awareness of our internal ticking clock reminds us to beware of the urgency of NOW. Jesus’ message is urgent! And to follow Him is costly!  Luke 9: 57-62 speaks to this urgency and the cost of following Jesus. It says, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus made it clear that this world is not our home. “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.”’ But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” This seems like a reasonable request. But Jesus was aware of the importance of Kairos or God time in our life. “Jesus said to him,’Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’” This is an amazing statement of the necessity of the finding our soul salvation right now.
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.” “Jesus replied ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”
The eternal clock of the Kingdom ticks only in present time! Awareness of our internal ticking clock reminds us to do three things on a daily basis. First, it reminds us to be careful how we live our lives. We should be watchful at all times. The Bible says,“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.” A sure way of being careful and wise is by watching what we say and do. Not in a fearful way but trusting God for the outcomes in our lives. Second it reminds us to be aware of our inner spiritual regulator. This manager reminds us to make the most of every second of life and not waste time on temporal things. It is important for us to be reminded that things of this world are short lived. Jesus said in Matthew 6:20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” When we suffer as Christians, these things are temporal. When we’re excited and things are going well, that is temporal. That’s not to say that we cannot have joy in our hearts with the Lord. We can. But we cannot expect things to always go exactly the way we want them. Our text says,  “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” We should not lose a moment of the ticking clock!
Finally it reminds us to seek to do God’s will daily.  The scriptures say, “So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” The only way to understand God’s will is to seek God’s will. Our internal clock tells us to seek God’s will every moment we live.

APOSTASY
Apostasy is a word you never hear mentioned in today’s churches, but it should frequently be explained, because there is a growing problem in the Body of Christ.  You may be thinking – should it be mentioned, and if you are thinking that, you may have a good reason, but it most certainly should be, because most church people are walking in complete defiance of the Word without knowledge.  May I explain? Did you say, please do. Okay, you see the church people have become so worldly minded until anything goes. Their interest is more in football, card playing, and secular music and lyrics – just to name a few – than in seeking the presence of the Lord Jesus, whom they say they seek to please. Drifting is deadly nullifying.
Let us look at Scripture and see what it says about apostasy. It will explain in detail the danger of following that path in II Timothy 3: 1-9, which talks about the last days – which is the present time – people would be lovers of themselves, filled with boasting, and covetous, that is money lovers, false accusers, proud, blasphemers, and disobedient to parents, as well as unthankful. Society is full of peace-breakers, and liars. Many Church people have taken on the spirits of the world, and it is difficult to distinguish them. Do you wonder why?  Yes – they have not invited the presence of the Lord in during their private time nor when they congregate in the house of the Lord. In order to live this Christian life, you must do what Jesus said do in [Luke 9:23],” He who will follow me, let him deny himself, take up your cross daily and follow me.” This is a call for those who love the Lord and want to obey Him. WILL YOU OBEY?
www.thealmightyeyes.com