(CLICK THE PICTURE) Good morning everyone. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. The scripture today is going to help some people free themselves from things and questions that might be in your way of really being in God’s presence. Let it bless you.
Today’s Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, let us try each day to serve You a little better, to love others a little more, and the make the world a little better because we are living now. At the close of each day, let us realize that where we have failed, or decided unwisely, or lost ground, even these departures were necessary for our spiritual growth. Let us accept ourselves as we are, as You have accepted us; let us ask Your forgiveness so that we can start new tomorrow and do better. Thank You that Your grace makes our living worthwhile, and our short-comings bearable. In the wonderful name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Stumbling Blocks Removed
“Take up the stumbling blocks out of the way”
Isaiah 57:1-14 –
Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die. “But you—come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars! You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs. Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Do you think all this makes me happy? You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me. You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies. You have given olive oil to Molech with many gifts of perfume. You have traveled far, even into the world of the dead, to find new gods to love. You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary. “Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me? Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you. Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.” God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.”
Working out your own Salvation
Philippians 2:12 –
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
Waiting for the Spirit
Acts 7:51 –
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!
Not the right kind of Faith
Hebrews 11:1 –
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Would it not be presumption?
1 John 5:10 –
All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.
The Scriptures quoted above removed these stumbling blocks.
Quote of the Day
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.
Francois Fenelon
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REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY
James H. Taylor Sr. – Kankakee City News has published my Daily meal message for a decade.