He Can Do The Impossible

The kingdom of heaven. Its citizens are drunk on wonder.
Consider the case of Sarai. She is in her golden years, but God promises her a son. She gets excited. She visits the maternity shop and buys a few dresses. She plans her shower and remodels her tent ... but no son. She eats a few birthday cakes and blows out a lot of candles ... still no son. She goes through a decade of wall calendars ... still no son.

So Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands. ("Maybe God needs me to take care of this one.")

She convinces Abram that time is running out. ("Face it, Abe, you ain't getting any younger, either.") She commands her maid, Hagar, to go into Abram's tent and see if he needs anything. ("And I mean 'anything'!") Hagar goes in a maid. She comes out a mom. And the problems begin.

Hagar is haughty. Sarai is jealous. Abram is dizzy from the dilemma. And God calls the baby boy a "wild donkey"--an appropriate name for one born out of stubbornness and destined to kick his way into history.

It isn't the cozy family Sarai expected. And it isn't a topic Abram and Sarai bring up very often at dinner.

Finally, fourteen years later, when Abram is pushing a century of years and Sarai ninety ... when Abram has stopped listening to Sarai's advice, and Sarai has stopped giving it ... when the wallpaper in the nursery is faded and the baby furniture is several seasons out of date ... when the topic of the promised child brings sighs and tears and long looks into a silent sky ... God pays them a visit and tells them they had better select a name for their new son.

Abram and Sarai have the same response: laughter. They laugh partly because it is too good to happen and partly because it might. They laugh because they have given up hope, and hope born anew is always funny before it is real.

They laugh at the lunacy of it all.

They laugh because that is what you do when someone says he can do the impossible. They laugh a little at God, and a lot with God--for God is laughing, too. Then, with the smile still on his face, he gets busy doing what he does best--the unbelievable.

He changes a few things--beginning with their names. Abram, the father of one, will now be Abraham, the father of a multitude. Sarai, the barren one, will now be Sarah, the mother.

But their names aren't the only things God changes. He changes their minds. He changes their faith. He changes the number of their tax deductions. He changes the way they define the word impossible.

From
The Applause of Heaven
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) Max Lucado

Old Fashion Day Sept. 21, 2008

Old Fashion Day

This coming Sunday, September 21 will be Old Fashion Day at our Church. Everyone dress "OLD" Fashion, (meaning any era before 1900). You may dress like the Pilgrams or even before that era of time.
Nice Bibles are being given to the male and female that is the "most original" old fashion dressed.
Lunch will be served after our State Bishop, L. V. Jones delivers the morning message. All our ladies are fixing plenty because we will have extra guest.

Trusting God

The Bible has scores of references telling us how much it pleases God for us to trust Him for every need.... Jesus told His disciples, "Look at the birds...they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26). God values our trust in Him above every other character quality. And how do we develop trust? by spending time in God's presence, through prayer, worship, and reading His Word. We develop it also as we step out in faith, and discover He really can be trusted. Are you trusting Him for every need in your life?

Unlocking the Mystery

I heard recently about a man who filled his car with gas at a self-service gas station. After he had paid and driven away, he realized that he had left the gas cap on top of his car. He stopped and looked and, sure enough, it was lost.

He thought for a second and realized that other people must have done the same thing, and that it was worth going back to look by the side of the road since even if he couldn't find his own gas cap, he might be able to find another one that fit.

Sure enough, after only a short time of searching, he found a gas cap. He carefully wiped it off and slipped it into place with a satisfying click.

He told his wife as he climbed back into the car, "I may have lost my gas cap, but I found another one that fits and it's even a better cap than the one I had -- it locks!"

Give thanks to God for revealing the mystery!

Oops! A locking gas cap is a great idea -- but only if you have the key that opens it! Understanding the Bible is much the same way. Remember when Jesus first began speaking in parables -- his apostles came to him for an explanation. They wanted the "key," and Jesus gave it to them. Jesus said, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" (Mark 4:11).

The book of Revelation is a difficult (some would say impossible) book for people to understand. It becomes a much easier task when you have the "key" explaining the symbolism of the numbers, colors and images found in the book.

Sometimes the ministry of Jesus is referred to as a "mystery." Paul wrote often about the "mystery of the gospel" (Ephesians 6:19), the "mystery of Christ" (Colossians 4:3), or simply "the mystery" (Ephesians 3:9). The word "mystery" means that it was something that was "hidden" for a while. All through the Old Testament, God was preparing for Jesus Christ to come to this earth, but no one fully understood what that would mean. The prophets foretold his coming, but they didn't fully understand (1 Peter 1:10-12). Even the angels didn't know what God had in mind. But we do. We understand the significance of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Give thanks to God for revealing the mystery:

[T]he mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27 NKJV)

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(c) 2008 Alan Smith Used by permission.
This devotional was reprinted from Thought for the
Day

September 11

September 11 will be engraved on the memories of people everywhere for generations to come. On that terrible day when terrorists commandeered several passenger planes and killed thousands of innocent people in New York and Washington, we began to realize the true depths of evil in the human heart, and the uncertainty and fragility of life itself.
What lessons would God teach us from such an appalling tragedy? I confess I don't know the full answer..... Life has always been uncertain; September 11 only made it clearer.
Where will you turn for your security? Put your life in Christ's hands, for only He offers us "a kingdom which cannot be shaken" (Hebrews 12:28).