Site Owner and Webmaster: Pastor
David Buffaloe (SBC) Last Update:
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Home of Classic Christian Bible Study
God's Word, The Bible - The Absolute Truth!
In
any museum we will find quite ordinary things - clothes, a walking
stick, a pen, pieces of furniture - which are only of value because
they were possessed and used by some great person. It is the ownership
which gives them worth. It is so with the Christian. The Christian
may be a very ordinary person, but he acquires a new value and
dignity and greatness because he belongs to God. The greatness
of the Christian lies in the fact that he is God's.(William Barclay)
(more quotes
here)
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Galatians
5:16 ... Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh.
The
Church in America is gradually – but steadily –
losing its influence in America. This has been going on
for quite some time. We still have a National Day of Prayer
– that's true. Yet there was a time when many Americans
prayed to the God of the Bible on a daily basis. No one
had to have a National Day of Prayer as a reminder to
pray. There was a time, I a told, that the community school
released its children so they could attend revival at
their local Church. That's not true anymore. In fact,
the schools are increasingly hostile to God's Church.
Prayer has been removed from most schools, and its not
uncommon to read of a coach or some teacher who was fired
for leading their class in prayer. Professional sports
– and in particular football – has long scheduled
its events on Sundays. Now many schools schedule sporting
events on Wednesdays and Sundays targeting the regular
meeting of the local Church. I was somewhat disturbed
to find out that one of our local High Schools –
a school that is excellent in its educational programs
– scheduled the Baccalaureate for its graduating
seniors on a Wednesday night at exactly the same time
that local Churches hold their prayer and Bible study
meetings.
But
I said all that to say this: Bill Cosby recently began
a speech with “I heard a prize fight manager say
to his fellow who was losing badly, “David, listen
to me. It’s not what’s he’s doing to you.
It’s what you’re not doing”. I'm afraid
the problem with America ........
Isaiah
55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD. {9} For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As
I lay down in the bed trying to rest one particularly annoying
fly began to irritate me. Every time I closed my eyes this
fly would buzz overhead and land on my nose, on my face,
on my arms, anywhere it could. I wouldn't have minded it
if the fly walked on the blanket, the wall, or the bed,
but for some reason that fly decided it was its life mission
to get me out of bed. I got out of bed, found the fly swatter,
found the fly – and the two became one. No more fly!
As I lay back down to sleep a thought came to mind: God
is as high above me as I was above that fly. When I killed
the fly I felt relief, but no remorse. This thing was irritating
me so I disposed of it, just as I disposed of fire ants,
cockroaches, and other unwanted critters. I feel no remorse
when I eat beef, chicken, or fish, knowing that these things
are killed for my consumption pleasure. My conscience is
not bothered with what I, a superior being, do to these
things.
The
Bible is a book about life. Jesus said, “The thief
comes to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they
might have life and might have it abundantly” (John
10:10). James, the half brother of Jesus, had this to say
about life, “Yet you do not know what your life will
be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little
while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).
About
life, a dying queen said, “I would give my entire kingdom
for one more moment of life.” It was Shakespeare who
wrote, “Time I have wasted and now time doth waste
me.” Someone else said, “Life is hard, but God
is good!”
In
all that has been said about life and all the things that
could be said, let’s ask that question, “How do
we make sense of this whole matter of life; given the struggles,
the pain, the suffering, joys, sorrow, etc. that each of
us face during our sojourn upon this earth?”
At
the risk of sounding overly simplistic, I want to give you
four biblical principles taken from Proverbs 3:5-6, that
will help us make sense of this whole matter of life. Hear
these words from Proverbs......
For
thirteen services, we have looked seven of the nine
different facets of the fruit of the Spirit. Some
of the material has been enjoyable but most of it
has been convicting. We see where we have come
but we have seen how far we have to go. We
have seen that love is the color of the fruit, and
joy is the bloom and peace is the skin, and then
longsuffering was the flavor of the fruit. Flavor
is a virtue fruit possesses, but which others must
taste if it is to be realized and praised. Since
longsuffering is the flavor, then gentleness and
goodness are the distinctive flavor of the fruit. The
next three virtues, faith, meekness and temperance,
are the perfect unity of the fruit. It also
could be called the stem of the fruit.
These
next two virtues are almost impossible for most
folks to fake even though some try. It is the
virtues of meekness and temperance. If these
are ever real seen in me, it will be the Holy Spirit
that has brought them forward.
Brother
Al Hughes made this observation about the Fruit
of the Spirit. It bears repeating. “Like
any natural fruit, the fruit of the Spirit starts
small and grows. This fruit should become more evident
and more evident in your life. Its growth can be
stunted if it is not cultivated and nourished.”
So
let’s look at this virtue of the fruit of the
Spirit today- meekness. As I was reading and
studying, I realize how far I was from this. By
being that way, I am not very Christ like. It
should be the desire of every believer to be Christ
like....
