This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9

I am searching for good news stories for such a times as this……the media is full of bad, ugly news in a very divided America, it is a such a shame. What does God think of our behavior? I am very sad that many Christians have become so full of themselves…no empathy for those dying from COVID, no empathy for the families that have lost loved ones to COVID, they make mask wearing a political issue and only think of themselves. These folks are standing on a hill that is going to collapse into misery. Self-Will blinds one from the ways of God. Many Christians have put aside their Bibles and God’s Word for their self- will, thinking they know more than God.

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

John 5:28-29

I want to point out that there is plenty of good news out their, full of good people! PTL!

Read about this wonderful news!!!

Police officer adopts little girl he comforted while on duty
“She was just this cute little thing.”

Read in ABC News: https://apple.news/AfDwaCUBbQByBu6jh4xotig

Shared from Apple News

The Sin of Self-Will
Psalm 81:11
But my people would not listen to my voice; and Israel would none of me.


Observe that the sin of which complaint is here made is not that Israel did not hearken, but that Israel would not hearken. God goes in behind the acts of disobedience, and is concerned with the spirit of wilfulness which found expression in the acts. The judgment of God upon them brings to view the special feature of their sin. “So I gave them up to the obduracy of their heart, that they should walk in their own counsels” (ver. 12).

I. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH MEN FELL. Self-will is the perverted use of free will. Free will could be self-will if man were an independent creature. Free will must not be self-will, because man is a dependent creature. Free will became self-will, because man allowed himself to be guided by what seemed “pleasant to the eyes and good for food,” rather than by what he knew to be the will of him on whom he depended. Serving himself is the essence of sin for one who has been made dependent – in every way dependent upon God. What we have to counteract is the delusion that man is an independent being, and therefore may “follow the devices and desires of his own heart.” Illustrate from Daniel 5:28.

II. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN FROM WHICH MEN ARE DELIVERED. There are penalties into which men have brought themselves by their self will, and from these they need to be delivered. But it would be no effective redemption that dealt only with penalties. Deliverance from self-willedness, in a dependent creature, can only be effected by making him on whom he depends so infinitely attractive that he wins full trust and obedience. And this is accomplished by God’s manifestation of himself to men in the Person, life, and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. SELF-WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH THE REDEEMED ARE IN DANGER OF FALLING BACK. Illustrate from the Israelites, as redeemed unto the service of Jehovah, from Egypt. Bring out

(1) the open ways, and

Last night I had trouble sleeping. I was kinda upset. I have never seen our Country in such bad shape, we are so very divided and get so mad at each other. People want to pick fights on Facebook with me, I’m sure you have then same thing happen to you if you are speaking out for JESUS! I do not know if we will ever come together again as a Country. I have warned for years America was making politics a god.

The election process for President has turned into chaos, the pandemic is getting worse. More folks are dying and getting sick and the hospitals are filled to capacity and the Doctors and nurses are so very tired, some are quitting. My angel wife Sharon and angel daughter Gretchen are on the front lines. People fight over wearing a mask. Many have become so very selfish and only care about themselves. Families cannot be with their loved one when they pass away. I am doing another funeral on Saturday. It breaks my heart that the family cannot be together, only 5 are allowed in the chapel, but thankfully the funeral home will broadcast it live so they can watch the service, but as you know this is not the same at all. People are hurting so badly….. it breaks my heart…they cannot not grieve like we normally do. This is of great concern of mine, the grieving process is now way different.

Folks in nursing homes cannot see their loved ones and cannot leave their rooms. We have a friend who will be 100 in April, she is lock downed in her room. Her son-in-law tells me It is hard to talk to her on the phone because she cannot hear that good.

The pandemic is taking an enormous toll on people losing their businesses and jobs.

Many people who are living alone in their homes alone have severe bad anxiety.

Education is a mess, I do not know how students do this without one on one contact with their teachers, the same with the teachers…it must be so very stressful.

People panic and raid the grocery stores.

What makes my head spin is that during this whole time pro football and baseball owners sign players to multi-million dollar contracts while people loose their jobs and go hungry. That is messed up.

Will America ever be the America I once knew?

We all need to seek the face of Jesus. Jesus needs to be at the center, He is not at this time in America, politics is, selfishness is, ego’s are running at an all-time high. The Church has lost much of its influence in América. That is a bitter pill to swallow.

“We Must All Hang Together, or Most Assuredly, We Will All Hang Separately” Benjamin Franklin made this statement at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was of course referring to the need for the signers, and the states they represented, to stick together against a common enemy, Great Britain.

The Pledge of Allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

What will we do?

My heart is broken…..

Many do not know JESUS is the only answer.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
 
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35

Responding to hate with love that shapes our souls

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