Beloved,
Harold left the mob
because he was converted to Jesus and then called to pray and minister
with me.
That was a long time ago
in Pennsylvania; yet I still remember something that he said to an irregular,
irascible, and irreconcilable that has stayed with me over the years in helping
me to address people who think I'm thinking about them when preaching
about...or writing about...or...
A notoriously sinful
woman who portrayed herself as the victim of everybody else's sin with other
rationalizations of sin so that she never had to deal with the reflection in
her soul's mirror while pointing out everybody else's sin to distract anyone
including herself from hers confronted Harold in front of several people in a
public setting, "You targeted me in last week's sermon!"
Calmly yet pointedly,
Harold responded, "It takes a great deal of arrogance for you to think
that I think so much about you and that I would preach a sermon just for you...but if the shoe fits..."
Anyway, a few people
think that way whenever I preach/write about...
Psst.
Don't tell 'em; but when
they say that to anybody, they're exposing themselves as...guilty.
Duh.
As Eleanor Roosevelt
once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your
consent."
Loosely translated,
"If you is, you is and know you is even if you don't want anybody tellin'
you that you is though you know you is."
Or something like that.
Go back to Harold and
his miscreant.
I thought I'd mention
that because while our family of faith on the corner of Lincoln and Main is in
a gloriously massive revival of cerebral faith expressing itself in concrete
action yet acknowledging there will always be room for improvement 'til the
roll is called up yonder, it's getting better and better and better as we've
moved from the season of purging, pruning, and exorcism to an expanding season
of experience, expression, invitation, inclusion, welcome, and agape.
Keep the preceding in
context as you read Ella Jane's witness below.
And don't forget this
Sunday's many opportunities to grow and glow and give and share...(check out www.belvpresbyterian.org and www.bnnsradio.com not to mention previous
bulletins/newsletters for more on...).
Psst.
Don't miss the rocking
chair on the communion table.
Blessings and Love!
P.S. And if you miss the
rocking chair on the communion table this Sunday, you missed it/...Don't blame
anybody else if you miss it/...If
you is, you is...
Thought for the
Day...Leave the Results To Him
Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of
grapes him that soweth seed. —Amos 9:13
Beloved:
A
few weeks ago I was praying before our morning Sunday Service, concerned at the
lack of attendance and not seeing the growth I had hoped to see this
year. The Spirit of the Lord very quietly and strongly spoke to me,
saying, "Don't worry
about the growth - that's MY job! Your job is to plant the Seed and water
it. Leave the results to Me." A great weight lifted from
my spirit as I realized my part is to obey -- His part is to perform His Word!
I
believe the Word that says
"If we are faithful and are not weary in well doing we will reap a
harvest." We will see the acceleration of the
Manifested Word of God at work in and through us. We see time is caught up
in an accelerated process.
"Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he
shall say, Here I am" (Isaiah 58:9a). Notice the immediacy of
God's response. The closer we get to the end of the age and the imminent return
of Jesus, the shorter time becomes. The time is coming when seed time and
harvest will be the same time. He said He would do a quick work in the last
days, so I believe that when we pray -- we will have the answers quickly.
God
is not going to allow us to "lag" behind when we need to be two steps
ahead of the enemy. He has a plan and a strategy that will not be delayed,
detained, held up, held back, or compromised. Our part? Obey and do
what He tells us to do! Then... leave the results to Him, for at the
appointed time His Vision will speak, will produce, and will manifest!
Obeying,
Pastor Ella Jane Coley
Passageway Ministries,
Inc.
PO Box 507
Bixby, OK 74008
918-366-4415
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