IS READING THE BIBLE A NECESSARY PART OF YOUR DAY OR DOES IT HAVE A LOW PRIORITY IN YOUR LIFE?
When their son left for his freshman year at Duke University, his parents gave him a Bible, assuring him it would be a great help. Later, as he began sending them letters asking for money, they would write back telling him to read his Bible, citing chapter and verse. He would reply that he was reading the Bible–but he still needed money. When he came home for a semester break, his parents told him they knew he had not been reading his Bible. How? They had tucked $10 and $20 bills by the verses they had cited in their letters.  (JOHN T. SPACH)

HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE READING YOUR BIBLE?
In his book The Wonders of the Work of God, evangelist Robert L. Sumner tell the story of a man who was severely injured in an explosion. The victim lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THE BIBLE?
The new pastor was asked to teach a boys’ class in the absence of the regular teacher. He decided to see what they knew, so he asked who knocked down the walls of Jericho. All the boys denied having done it, and the pastor was appalled by their ignorance. At the next deacons’ meeting he told about the experience. “Not one of them knows who knocked down the walls of Jericho,” he lamented. The group was silent until finally one deacon spoke up. “Pastor, this appears to be bothering you a lot. But I’ve known all those boys since they were born and they’re good boys. If they said they didn’t know, I believe them. Let’s just take some money out of the repair and maintenance fund, fix the walls, and let it go at that.”         (SOURCE UNKNOWN)

HOW MUCH DO YOU VALUE YOUR BIBLE?
It is said that when the famous missionary, Dr. David Livingstone, started his trek across Africa he had 73 books in 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds. After the party had gone 300 miles, Livingstone was obliged to throw away some of the books because of the fatigue of those carrying his baggage. As
he continued on his journey his library grew less and less, until he had but one book left–his Bible. (SOURCE UNKNOWN)

People deal with troubling circumstances every day.  People typically react with a negative attitude to these issues.  Too often  though,  people take  this negative

attitude and make it part of their personality. So, how can we turn our frowns upside down?  We need to learn to be optimistic.  Let’s examine 4 secrets of optimistic people.

1. They Express Gratitude.  Optimistic people rarely talk about what they don’t have; it’s almost always about what they do have. You may not live in your dream house yet, but you can be thankful that you’re not homeless.  You may not drive a BMW, but at least you don’t have to ride the bus to work.  Do you see the point?  Life will NEVER be perfect.  It’s all about how you look at it.  Most people have it worse that we do.  If we want to be optimistic, we need to be thankful for the good we already have, not what we are lacking.

2. They Volunteer.  Optimistic people aren’t focused on themselves.  This is about shifting the focus from ourselves to others.  Just give it a try.  Go help an elderly person with some housework.  Go visit someone who has been sick or is in the hospital.  Studies have shown that people are much more happy and satisfied when they are focusing on helping others and not on their own problems.

3. They Notice the Good.  Optimistic people always seem to look on the bright side.  They are able to find that silver lining.  This isn’t something that comes naturally.  This is one part of optimism that we must practice.  It is very difficult to look for something positive when you are faced with dreadful situations like death, poverty, and sickness.  While it may not appear right away, an optimistic person keeps looking for the positives.

4. They Change Negative Self-Talk.  Optimistic people think positively about themselves.  Typically, when people look in the mirror they begin to pick out all of their flaws, wish they were different, and insult themselves for not being better.  Much of this is spurred on by our culture’s standard for beauty, which is unbelievably distorted.  So, what is the point?  Don’t be so hard on yourself.  No one is flawless.  Focus on the good things and change the negative self-talk into positive thoughts about yourself.

Life is so much better when we focus on the positive side. Consider this, we know that God helps us (Matthew 6:25-34), we know that God protects us (2 Corinthians 1:10), and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of His will (Romans 8:28).  God provides these blessings because He wants us to be joyful.  He wants us to praise Him for the blessings He provides us with.  There are way too many positives in this life to wallow around in all the negatives.  Let’s learn to be optimistic people.

(BRETT PETRILLO)

When our kids were young, my family and  I went  to a  church while  on  our
summer study break; it was a new church, very small, that was meeting in a movie theatre.  How can I say this…it was one of the most programming challenged services I’ve ever attended.  It was so bad, that we were looking at our watches five minutes after the service started.  When the service mercifully ended, we wanted to get out of there and never return.  I know, that isn’t very gracious and I should have been focused more on worshiping Jesus and … you would have wanted to leave too.

But when we went to pick up our kids, they were having an absolute blast.  They didn’t want to leave!  There was a couple who had just poured themselves into that ministry, and made it really, really good.  I still recall how they had transformed  a meager space into  a
time-machine with special-effects music that took the kids “back” into Bible times. New kids, such as ours, were treated extra special and taken to a treasure chest full of small toys from which they could choose, just for coming the first time.

We went to some of the “best” churches in the area that summer, but our kids pleaded with us to take them back to the one we could barely stand.

Here’s the lesson:  No matter how good the service is, if the children’s ministry is bad, they won’t come back – unless they’re people without children.

Wake up.  Children are the heart of your growth engine.

And if a pre-believer ever were to come to your church uninvited, it would probably be for the sake of their kids.  And if a pre-believer comes because they were invited, what you do with their children will be a deal-breaker.

So I’ll say it again: Your church’s children’s ministry is the most important sub-ministry in the life of your church.

Now, start treating it that way.                                    (DR JAMES EMERY WHITE)

Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out on the world.”

While those words sound beautiful, many of us in the body of Christ struggle with how to care for broken people. Compassion comes easily for people who are like us, but what about people on the margins of society. How can we be the hands and feet of Christ to people who are struggling in the downward spiral of poverty and isolation?

Jesus was very clear in His teaching that Christians don’t have the option not to care for the down and out.

The Good Samaritan crossed the road and was moved by compassion for the mugged man. He got involved by bandaging his wounds and then took him to the nearest rehab center and paid for his rehabilitation.

What we do for the least of these, Jesus said, is what we do for Him. The list included providing food and clothing, looking after people in prison, caring for the sick and taking in strangers.

Compassionate care for the poor is central to the teaching of Scripture. Ultimately the power to overcome poverty lies in learning to live the Jesus way, to follow Him in how He interacted with the poor and the marginalized, and to be willing—like Jesus, to lay down our self-centered, materialistic lives to take up the cross of loving generosity, gentle kindness, and tenacious advocacy for the rights of the poor and the oppressed.

Caring for the poor is something we do together. In the body of Christ, we each have a role to play. God raises up leaders who start movements, ministries and organizations that are feeding and clothing the homeless, providing shelter, caring for the sick and ministering to those in prison. Each of us can join these movements in some way through giving and volunteering.

When was the last time you shared a meal or had a meaningful conversation with a poor person? Find a ministry in your community that is caring for people in need and find out how you can get involved. It will change your life.

The Christian church is the largest grassroots movement on earth. How we respond to the poor is central to the life and teachings of Jesus and to what it means for us to follow Christ. Together we can make a profound impact on poverty. Indeed, I believe we are called by God to do so.      (ARLOA SUTTER)

1. The Early Church joyfully and generously gave despite their being poor. Generosity in the midst of poverty! Though being poor is often the reason why many of God’s people hold on   to   what  they   have  and  excuse
themselves from giving, we ought to realize that it is possible for one to be poor and still be generous in giving.

2. The Early Church willingly gave as much as they were able.  Generosity is best measured not by the sum of what was given but by the sacrifice that comes with it. The Macedonian Christians were willing to forego of that little that they had for the sake of others, trusting the Lord to provide for them.

3. The Early Church was determined to give to help meet the needs of others.  Generosity comes from a sincere and a pure desire of the heart to give. When you have that genuine concern for the brethren, as constrained by the love of Christ, you will naturally want to give and to give generously.

4. The Early Church first gave their own selves to the Lord.  Learn that he that does not totally yield himself to the Lord will neither yield his possessions to Him. But he that joyfully gives himself will keep back nothing that the Lord requires from him. And it is only when we give ourselves wholly to God that we are able to sincerely give ourselves and our possessions to others.

5. The Early Church generously gave to support the work of the Lord.  Generosity knows no boundaries. The church at Philippi generously gave to the poor brethren in Jerusalem and went out of their way to send Epaphroditus to bring their gift to Paul who was then inside the cold prison in Rome. This is far beyond today’s “Out of sight, out of mind” attitude pertaining to the manner of giving to support the workers of the Gospel in missions.

Learning of the generosity of the early church, it would be well to examine ourselves. Have we been generous in our giving?

Generosity is a wonderful blessing, which when acquired, could lead to the receiving of other blessings. “After all, God can give you everything that you need, so that you may always have sufficient both for yourselves and for giving away to other people.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, J.B. Philips).

Remember, God loves a cheerful giver!         (REGGOR BARAZON GALARPE)