Mon, Jun 30th - 7:45AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
I will not allow the circumstances of life interrupt my praise! *
*24This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24 (NRSV)
18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18 (NRSV)
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Mon, Jun 30th - 7:39AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
After she woke up, a woman told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for our anniversary. What do you think it means?"
"You'll know tonight." he said.
That evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.
Delighted, she opened it to find a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams."
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Mon, Jun 30th - 7:38AM
L
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Sun, Jun 29th - 7:49AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
To the natural man, death appears to terminate his hopes, dreams, expectations, and visions, but to the man in Christ, death has been transformed to the fulfillment of all of these things.*
*55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:55
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Sun, Jun 29th - 7:43AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, and his wife was sitting by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, “You are beautiful.” Then he fell asleep again. His wife had never heard him say that, so she stayed by his side. A few minutes later, his eyes fluttered open and he said, “You are cute!” The wife was disappointed because instead of “beautiful,” it was now “cute.” She said, “What happened to ‘beautiful’?”
Her husband replied, “The drugs are wearing off!”
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Sat, Jun 28th - 9:18PM
Integrated discipleship
There is no more integrating Christian principle than the
affirmation 'Jesus Christ is Lord'. It is of the essence
of integrated discipleship that we both confess his
lordship with our lips and enthrone him as Lord in our
hearts. We assume the easy yoke of his teaching authority.
We seek to 'take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ' (2 Cor. 10:5). And when Jesus is Lord of our
beliefs, opinions, ambitions, standards, values and
lifestyle, then we are integrated Christians, since then
'integrity' marks our life. Only when *he* is Lord do *we*
become whole. JOHN STOTT
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Sat, Jun 28th - 7:44AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
It is easy to do right when you consider the alternative.*
*"The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin." Psalm 146:9 (NRSV)
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Sat, Jun 28th - 7:37AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deerskin, one slept on an elk skin and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin.
All three became pregnant and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys.
This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.
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Fri, Jun 27th - 7:54AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."* -- Jeremy Kitson
*"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live," Deuteronomy 30:19 (NRSV)
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Fri, Jun 27th - 7:47AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
On a street, where the speed is limited to 30 mph the police stop a driver.
"Not only have you been driving too fast, you've been passing cars where it is not allowed. Your lights don't work, your tires all completely worn out. This is surely going to cost you a lot.
What's your name?"
"Schtrathewisizeski Vocgefastilongchinic."
"Well, I'll let you go this time but don't do it again."
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Thu, Jun 26th - 11:19AM
A SIMPLE L;IKFESTYLE
What does it mean for the affluent to develop a simple
style of living? ... The truth is that concepts like
'poverty', 'simplicity' and 'generosity' are all relative
and are bound to mean different things to different people.
For example, running water, let alone constant hot water,
is regarded as a wonderful luxury by those who have to
queue up for water at the village well, which sometimes
dries up. But in other parts of the world it can hardly be
regarded as incompatible with 'a simple lifestyle'.
Scripture lays down no absolute standards. On the one
hand, it give no encouragement to an austere and negative
asceticism, for it does not forbid the possession of the
good gifts of our Creator. On the other hand, it implies
that some measure of equality is more pleasing to God than
disparity, and its appeal to believers to be generous is
based on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, because grace
means generosity (2 Cor. 8:8-15). JOHN STOTT
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Thu, Jun 26th - 8:17AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: The Christian is under both instruction and authority. He looks to Jesus as his Teacher to instruct him, and as his Lord to command him. He believes what he believes because Jesus taught it, and he does what he does because Jesus told him to do it.*
*Looking round at his disciples, Jesus said, 'You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right; that is what I am' (Jn. 13:13).
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Thu, Jun 26th - 8:12AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A little girl and a little boy were at daycare one day.
The girl approached the boy and said, "Hey Billy, want to play house?"
He said, "Sure! What do you want me to do?"
Sally replied, "I want you to communicate your feelings."
"Communicate my feelings?" said a bewildered Billy... "I have no idea what that means."
The little girl nodded and said, "Perfect. You can be the husband."
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Wed, Jun 25th - 11:39AM
JESUS IS LORD
The two-word affirmation *Kyrios Iesous* [Jesus is Lord]
sounded pretty harmless at first hearing. But it has far-
reaching ramifications. Not only does it express our
conviction that he is God and Saviour, but it also
indicates our radical commitment to him. The dimensions of
this commitment are intellectual (bringing our minds under
Christ's yoke), moral (accepting his standards and obeying
his commands), vocational (spending our lives in his
liberating service), social (seeking to penetrate society
with his values), political(refusing to idolize any human
institution) and global (being jealous for the honour and
glory of his name). JOHN STOTT
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Wed, Jun 25th - 11:32AM
Called individually
In the New Testament the Greek verb to 'call' occurs about
150 times, and in most cases God is calling human beings.
In the Old Testament God called Moses, Samuel and the
prophets; in the New Testament Jesus called the Twelve and
later Saul of Tarsus. Today, although we are neither
prophets nor apostles, he still calls us into his service.
It is a wonderful fact that God cares about us enough to
call us personally and individually. In consequence, God
is 'he who called you' (e.g. Gal. 5:8; 1 Pet. 1:15); and we
are 'called according to his purpose' (e.g. Rom. 8:28; Heb.
9:15). JOHN STOTT
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Wed, Jun 25th - 10:08AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If we don't live for heaven we will live for this world, for it is all there is. Jim Denison, Pastor Park Cities Baptist Church Dallas TX
*15Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 1 John 2:15 (NRSV)
18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NRSV)
1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3 (NRSV)
20But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 (NRSV)
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Wed, Jun 25th - 9:25AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A man was seen fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation. "What's the matter?" he was asked.
He said, "I heard the nurse say, 'It's a very simple operation, don't worry, I'm sure it will be all right.'"
"She was just trying to comfort you, what's so frightening about that?"
"She wasn't talking to me. She was talking to the doctor!"
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Tue, Jun 24th - 10:19PM
Home
Got home today from Baylor Jane & Jack Hamilton Heart Hospital. God is executing your prayers. I have been pain-free two days now. I didn't think I would ever feel this good again. I am very weak. I'm not sure how soon I will get back to my full routine. Thanks for your prayers.
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Thu, Jun 12th - 10:16AM
The humility of dependence
Humility to Bash [the Rev. E. J .H. Nash] was synonymous
with dependence. He told me several times of the serious
illness he had had when he was a young man. When he was at
his lowest ebb, and was not at all sure that he would
survive, he remembered being so helpless that he needed to
be fed. This utter dependence which in a sense was for him
the ultimate in humiliation, seems also to have been the
beginning of humility. He learned then the inescapable
fact of our human dependence on each other, and even more
on God. The humility of a little child, to which Jesus
several times alluded, is the humility of dependence. It
is right to refer to children as 'dependants', for that is
what they are, dependent on their parents for everything
they possess. JOHN STOTT
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Thu, Jun 12th - 9:09AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: "The optimist says we live in the best of all possible worlds and the pessimist fears this is true"* -- Source Unknown"
*"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." Genesis 1:31 (NRSV)
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:...." Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)
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Thu, Jun 12th - 9:05AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one question final exam after a semester dealing with a broad array of topics. The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and wrote on the board: "Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."
Fingers began to write furiously, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair. One member of the class however, was up and finished in less than a minute.
Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the group wondered how he could have gotten an A when he had barely written anything at all. His answer consisted of two words: "What chair?"
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Wed, Jun 11th - 8:38AM
CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
*Lowliness* was much despised in the ancient world. The
Greeks never used their word for humility (*tapeinotes*) in
a context of approval, still less of admiration. Instead
they meant by it an abject, servile, subservient attitude,
'the crouching submissiveness of a slave'.(1) Not till
Jesus Christ came was a true humility recognized. For he
humbled himself. And only he among the world's religious
and ethical leaders has set before us as our model a little
child.JOHN STOTT
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Wed, Jun 11th - 8:23AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.* -Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (1806-1861)
*"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Deuteronomy 6:5 (NRSV)
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Wed, Jun 11th - 8:18AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
Three men worked in the Empire State Building on the 102nd floor.
One day the elevator was out of service, so they had to walk up to their office.
To pass the time, they decided that one would sing a song, one would tell a joke, and the third would tell a sad story - each taking a turn every floor until they reached the top.
Finally, as they reached the 100th floor, one man sang his last song. As they reached the 101st floor, the second guy told his last joke. As they ascended the flight to the 102nd floor, the third man told his last sad story, "I forgot the key."
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Tue, Jun 10th - 8:44AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5).* (Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest Feb 24)
*"and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Romans 5:5 (NRSV)
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Tue, Jun 10th - 8:38AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
During training exercises, the Lieutenant driving down a muddy back road encountered another car stuck in the mud with a red-faced colonel at the wheel.
"Your jeep stuck, sir?" asked the Lieutenant as he pulled alongside.
"Nope," replied the Colonel, coming over and handing him the keys, "Yours is."
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Mon, Jun 9th - 11:55AM
SUBMISSIVE HUMILITY
Submission to the authority of Scripture is *the way of
personal Christian humility*. Nothing is more obnoxious in
us who claim to follow Jesus Christ than arrogance, and
nothing is more appropriate or attractive than humility.
And an essential element in Christian humility is the
willingness to hear and receive God's Word. Perhaps the
greatest of all our needs is to take our place again
humbly, quietly and expectantly at the feet of Jesus
Christ, in order to listen attentively to his Word, and to
believe and obey it. For we have no liberty to disbelieve
or disobey him. JOHN STOTT
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Mon, Jun 9th - 9:21AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
The believer's faith is as valid as its object, which is the living (Christ) and written (Bible) Word of God. With the infinite God of the universe as the object of Christian faith, there is virtually no limit to the spiritual heights that positive believing can take you.* (Neil Anderson 6/4/03)
*"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;" Hebrews 6:19 (KJV)
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Mon, Jun 9th - 9:15AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A sweet little boy surprised his grandmother one morning and brought her a cup of coffee. He made it himself and was so proud. He anxiously waited to hear the verdict on the quality of the coffee. The grandmother had never in her life had such a bad cup of coffee, and as she forced down the last sip she noticed three of those little green army guys in the bottom of the cup.
She asked, "Honey, why would three little green army guys be in the bottom of my cup?"
Her grandson replied, "You know grandma, it's like on TV, 'The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup.'"
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Sun, Jun 8th - 8:14AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.* -Charles Evans Hughes, jurist (1862-1948)
*"But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5 (NRSV)
"Pray for us; we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things." Hebrews 13:18 (NRSV)
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Sun, Jun 8th - 8:02AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
Bill: Where did you get that gold watch Joe?
Joe: I won it in a race.
Bill: How many people participated in it?
Joe: Three, a policeman, the owner of the watch, and me!!
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Sat, Jun 7th - 8:16AM
A paradox of Christian living
It is one of the great paradoxes of Christian living that
the whole church is called (and every member of it) as much
to involvement in the world as to separation from it, as
much to 'worldliness' as to 'holiness'. Not to a
worldliness which is unholy, nor to a holiness which is
unworldly, but to 'holy worldliness', a true separation to
God which is lived out in the world -- the world which he
made and sent his Son to redeem. JOHN STOTT
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Sat, Jun 7th - 8:12AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
It is good to be a Christian and know it, but it is better to be a Christian and show it.* Pastor Tim provided this quote.
*Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 1 John 3:18 (NRSV)
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Sat, Jun 7th - 8:04AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
Two kids were deciding what game to play. One said, “Let’s play doctor.”
“Good idea,” said the other. “You operate, and I’ll sue.”
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Fri, Jun 6th - 8:17AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all
the way home in the back seat of the car, his father asked him three
times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied, "That preacher said he
wanted us brought up in a Christian home and I wanted to stay with you
guys."
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Thu, Jun 5th - 8:42AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A nearsighted minister glanced at the note that Mrs. Jones had sent to him by an usher.
The note read: "Bill Jones having gone to sea, his wife desires the prayers of the congregation for his safety."
Failing to observe the punctuation, he startled his audience by announcing:
"Bill Jones, having gone to see his wife, desires the prayers of the congregation for his safety."
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Wed, Jun 4th - 3:16PM
Gospel Nugget
God's mission is to provide a way for all people to live fully in right relationship to Him. The right relationship with God is submission to the King. To be a citizen of the Kingdom of God we must submit to the King, Jesus Christ.
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Wed, Jun 4th - 9:12AM
CALLED TO BE DIFFERENT
Every Christian is called to be different from the world.
Indeed, if you do not like the word 'holy' because it sounds too
pious to you, try the word 'different'. It is exactly what the
word 'holy' means. Somebody who is holy is somebody who is
different. He is set apart from the world unto God; his
standards are not worldly but godly. He is different. JOHN STOTT
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Wed, Jun 4th - 8:22AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
Because He has Risen, He is closer to you than the breath you breathe. Because He has Risen, He can give you His undivided attention without neglecting anyone else.*
*22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 (NRSV)
11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; Romans 13:11 (NRSV)
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Wed, Jun 4th - 8:19AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A knight and his men return to their castle after a long hard day of fighting.
"How are we faring?" asks the king.
"Sire," replies the knight, "I have been robbing and pillaging on your behalf all day, burning the towns of your enemies in the west."
"What?!" shrieks the king. "I don't have any enemies to the west!"
"Oh, no..." says the knight. "Well, you do now."
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Tue, Jun 3rd - 8:51AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
Teacher: Class, you have 30 minutes to write a composition on the subject of Baseball
Jonah: Here’s my paper
Teacher: Jonah, you spent only one minute writing your essay
Lets hear what you wrote
Jonah: Game called off on account of rain
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Tue, Jun 3rd - 8:42AM
HOLINESS DEFINED
Where today is the old evangelical emphasis on holiness? ... I
suspect it has been replaced by an emphasis on experience. Now
experience is good, but holiness is better. For holiness is
Christlikeness, and Christlikeness is God's eternal purpose for
his children. JOHN STOTT
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Tue, Jun 3rd - 1:49AM
IN THE REAL WORLD
Holiness is not a mystical condition experienced in relation to
God but in isolation from human beings. You cannot be good in a
vacuum but only in the real world of people. JOHN STOTT
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Mon, Jun 2nd - 8:30AM
DEAD TO SIN - JOHN STOTT
Dead to sin'
In every analogy we need to consider at what point the parallel
or similarity is being drawn; we must not press a resemblance at
every point. For instance, when Jesus told us to become like
little children, he did not mean that we were to copy every
characteristic of children (including their immaturity,
waywardness and selfishness), but only one, namely their humble
dependence. In the same way, to say that we have 'died' to sin
does not mean that we must exhibit every characteristic of dead
people, including their insensibility to stimuli. We have to
ask ourselves: at what point is the analogy of death being made?
If we answer these questions from Scripture rather than from
analogy, from biblical teaching about death rather than from the
properties of dead people, we shall find immediate help. Death
is represented in Scripture more in legal than in physical
terms; not so much as a state of lying motionless but as the
grim though just penalty for sin. Whenever sin and death are
coupled in the Bible, from it second chapter ('when you eat ...
[i.e. sin], you will surely die') to its last two chapters
(where the fate of the impenitent is called 'the second death'),
the essential nexus between them is that death is sin's penalty.
This is plain also in Romans, in which we read that those who
sin 'deserve death' (1:32), that death entered into the world
through sin (5:12) and that 'the wages of sin is death' (6:23).
Take Christ first: 'the death he died, he died to sin once for
all' (Rom. 6:10). The natural and obvious meaning of this is
that Christ bore sin's condemnation, namely death. He met its
claim, he paid its penalty, he accepted its rewards and he did
it 'once for all' (*ephapax*), an adverb which is many times
applied to his atoning death in the New Testament. In
consequence, sin has no more claim or demand on him. So God
raised him from the dead, in order to demonstrate the
satisfactoriness of his sin-bearing, and he now lives for ever
to God.
What is true of Christ is equally true of Christians who are
united to Christ. We too have 'died to sin', in the sense that
through union with Christ we may be said to have borne its
penalty. Some may object that we surely cannot speak of our
bearing the penalty of our sins, even in Christ, since we cannot
die for our own sins; he alone has done that. Is not the
suggestion that we could a veiled form of justification by
works? But no, it is nothing of the kind. Of course Christ's
sin-bearing sacrifice was altogether unique, and we cannot share
in its offering. But we can and do share in its benefits by
being united to Christ. So the New Testament tells us not only
that Christ died instead of us, as our substitute, so that we
will never need to die for our sins, but also that he died for
us, as our representative so that we may be said to have died in
and through him. As Paul wrote elsewhere, for example, 'we are
convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died' (2 Cor.
5:14). That is, by being united to him, his death became their
death JOHN STOTT
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Mon, Jun 2nd - 8:15AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: The purpose of learning is service. 'LEARN' TO WORK!* Doyle Purifoy
*15Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15(KJV)
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Mon, Jun 2nd - 8:04AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
When I went to get my driver's license renewed, our local motor-vehicle bureau was packed.
The line inched along for almost an hour until the man ahead of me finally got his license.
He inspected his photo for a moment and commented to the clerk, "I was standing in line so long, I ended up looking pretty grouchy in this picture."
The clerk looked at his picture closely.
"It's okay," he reassured the man, "That's how you're going to look when the cops pull you over anyway."
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Sun, Jun 1st - 7:58AM
THOUGHT FOR TODAY!
Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.*
*"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it." Numbers 23:19-20
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Sun, Jun 1st - 7:54AM
LAUGHTER DOES GOOD LIKE A MEDICINE!
A truck driver is driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads “Low Bridge Ahead.” Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under it. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks around to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says,
“Got stuck, huh?”
The truck driver says, “No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas.”
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Name: Doyle Purifoy
