One day two disciples were walking with their Teacher, and the conversation turned toward marriage, and how the only enduring foundation for marriage is true love. “Teacher,” one of them asked, “please tell us, what is true love?”

And the Teacher said, “If a man and a woman find joy in one another’s presence, if they can scarcely keep themselves apart, if they love to laugh together, sing together, dance together, cry together— this is a gift from God, it is good. But, I tell you solemnly, this is not true love; it is changeable, and you cannot rely on it.”

The disciples were amazed that so beautiful a love still fell short of true love. After a while, he spoke again.…“Ah, but if a man and a woman appreciate and respect one another, if they talk about everything and learn to listen to one another, if they dream the same dreams, pursue the same goals, and hope the same hopes, yes, even if they share as much as any two people on earth— and such communion is rare and very good— still, I tell you, this also would not be true love.

By now the disciples were very amazed and perplexed. After a while the Teacher spoke again, “Ah, if a young man and a young woman have a common vision, if they pray together, if they serve the poor and homeless, if they work side by side, if together they share what they have, indeed, if they are willing to pour out their very lives in service to others, no, I tell you, even that is not true love, and in the long run, it could fail them utterly.”

At this the disciples were completely astounded.  They young man and the young woman implored him:  Tell us then, what is true love?”

He said, “If a man chooses to love his wife as Christ loves his Church, if like Christ, he lays aside his pride and sacrifices himself for her— putting her needs before his needs, her happiness before his happiness, if he will care for her and take thought for her, if he chooses to keep loving her when their interests diverge, when her youthful beauty fades, when she doesn’t speak sweetly and when he doesn’t feel ‘loving’…
“And if a woman chooses to put her husband first, to follow his lead as the true Church defers to her heavenly Bridegroom, if she is patient with his failings (those he sees and those he does not), if she encourages him and forgives him, if she respects him even when his faults are obvious or she must pay the price for his mistakes, if she has the courage to tell him the truth in love, yet stand by him through it all…
“And if neither wife nor husband will let the sun go down on their anger, but if each will race to repent and reconcile, and if both determine to let nothing on earth divide them as long as they both shall live, there, I tell you, is true love, and that marriage shall never be shaken.”                       (PETER S. WILLIAMSON)

A church will never be a Spirit filled church until it is filled with individuals who are Spirit filled people. The following five marks will be the evidence of the church, or the person that is filled with the Holy Spirit.

1) A Spirit filled person is a person of Power. They get things done for the Lord because they are energized and powered by the Holy Spirit who gives them strength and courage for the tasks ahead.

2) A Spirit filled person is a person of Purity. They have a level of personal integrity that is unmatched in the world around them. There is honesty in all that they do. They have a clean thought life. Purity is a sorely missing ingredient in Christians today. But the Spirit filled person has the purity of the Spirit and can overcome the temptations of the world around.

3) The Spirit filled person is a person of Passion. They are a person who is telling the world about the best thing that ever happened to them. They are a person who is willing to put aside style and cultural preferences and take the message to the lost where they are.

4) The Spirit filled person is a person of Peace. So far as it is possible for them they live a peace with everyone. They forgive before they are asked to, they seek the common good among believers. They are unified in their church and with other churches in the body of Christ.

5) The Spirit filled person is a person of Persuasion. They know the Gospel and when they tell it others are persuaded to believe. They are in the trenches building tomorrow’s church by winning today’s converts.

We want to be a Spirit filled church, but we must begin by being Spirit filled individuals. Today I challenge you to investigate your life. Are the marks of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit on your life? Are you the Spirit filled person that is needed to make your church a Spirit filled Church?

(STEPHEN COLAW)

“Mommy I’m so thirsty. I want a drink.” Susanna Petroysan heard her daughter’s pleas, but there was nothing she  could  do.  She and four-
year-old Gayaney were trapped beneath tons of collapsed concrete and steel. Beside them in the darkness lay the body of Susanna’s sister-in-law,  Karine, who was one of fifty-five thousand victims of the worst earthquake in the history of Armenia. It was December 7, 1988, at 11:41 A.M. Her fifth-floor apartment had begun to shake. Susanna grabbed her daughter but had taken only a few steps before the floor opened up and they tumbled in. Susanna, Gayaney, and Karine all fell into the basement with the nine-story apartment building crumbling around them.

“Mommy, I need a drink. Please give me something.” There was nothing for Susanna to give. She was trapped flat on her back. Feeling around in the darkness, she found a jar of blackberry jam that had fallen into the basement. She gave the entire jar to her daughter to eat. It was gone by the second day. “Mommy, I’m so thirsty.” Susanna knew she would die, but she wanted her daughter to live. The two were trapped for eight whole days.

“Mommy, I’m thirsty.” Susanna remembered a television program about an explorer in the Arctic who was dying of thirst. His friend actually slashed open his own hand and gave him his own blood to drink. Susanna found a piece of shattered glass. She sliced open her left index finger and gave it to her daughter to suck. The drops of blood weren’t enough. “Please Mommy, some more. Cut another finger.” Susanna has no idea how many times she cut herself. She only knows that if she hadn’t, Gayaney would have died. Her blood was her daughter’s only hope to quench her thirst.

Beneath the rubble of this fallen world, Jesus pierced His hands. In the wreckage of a collapsed humanity, He ripped open His side. You see, His children were trapped in sin and thirst, so He gave His blood. With His blood, and by His Spirit, He quenches the thirst of all who come to Him and believe in Him.

“He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore, for he finds in Jesus such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, he will meet the “friend that sticks closer than a brother.” The heart is as insatiable as the grave until Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to overflowing. Only Jesus can quench our thirst.”                                                          (MIKE CLEVELAND)

In the story of the blind man (Bartimaeus) in Luke 18: 35-43, Bartimaeus’ dilemma is our dilemma. The ironic twist of this story is that the people who ought to be able to see – cannot; – and those who shouldn’t be able to see – can.

Bartimaeus had a great need – and he knew it!
He had a great opportunity – and he seized it!
He had a great prayer – and he prayed it!
He had great faith – and he exercised it!
He had a great testimony and he gave it!

More than anything else – people  need  to  see
and know that God cares.
They need to know that He is active and involved in their situation.
They need to know that they are not forgotten.
They need to know that they are truly loved!
They need to know that no matter who they are – and no matter what they have done – God is just a prayer away at all times!

Like the blind man – some of you are sitting on the side of the road of life. You’re sitting in the dust of failure – in the dust of insecurity – in the dust of infidelity – in the dust of anxiety. And you need to be reminded that our God is the Giver of mercy.

Even though Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem – He stopped dead in His tracks when He heard the cry of Bartimaeus.

My friends – even though there is a whole universe to govern – God is willing to stop what He is doing – to respond to your heartfelt cry right now.   Do you need Jesus to stop and address a special need in your life? Do you need His mercy right now? Jesus will stop for those who call on Him in faith believing!

Although blinded by an illness at the age of six weeks – and remaining that way for the rest of her life – Fanny Crosby composed over 9,000 hymns during her life time.  It was while she was at a prison service in Manhattan – that  she heard a prisoner call out in a pitiful voice: “Good Lord!  Don’t pass by me!” That evening she wrote the words of one of her best known hymns:-

“Pass me not O gentle Savior, – Hear my humble cry.
While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by.”

(PASTOR  LYLE PETTIT