Hearing the Cry
This story originally appeared in our winter edition of News from HOME.
The City of Philadelphia is abuzz with expectation for Pope Francis’s visit this September for the World Meeting of Families, a triennial international Catholic conference on the family.
This dynamic pope has seized the imagination of millions around the globe — Catholic and non-Catholic alike. This is due in large part because he has spoken out so forcibly about those who are poor and suffering. “The times talk to us of so much poverty in the world and this is a scandal,” he said. “In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry.”
In the depths of our humanity, all of us hear this cry, and it calls forth from us our truest selves. Pope Francis has given us a gift, by urging us to refocus on the truth of poverty and struggle in our world, both in its global and local forms. He is inviting us to tap the wellsprings of compassion and goodness within us, and he is urging us to re-envision our society along the lines of justice and human dignity.
This is a message that Philadelphia needs to hear. Our city has a poverty rate of 26 percent — the highest among the 10 largest cities nationwide. Almost one of every three children lives in poverty. Thousands experience homelessness. Food pantries and soup kitchens are strained to meet the growing needs of people facing food insecurity. As Pope Francis says, a scandal indeed.
The Project HOME community is positioned to play an important role in light of the Pope’s visit. Our Executive Director Sister Mary Scullion was asked by the World Meeting of Families to chair a special Committee on Hunger and Homelessness. Several of our residents and staff, along with advocates and partners, will be working to mobilize people of faith and conscience in our region to raise awareness about the issues of hunger, homelessness, and poverty in anticipation of the pope’s visit. We will create venues for the voices and stories of those who are economically struggling. We will reach out to our schools and our faith communities, to create deeper understanding of the issues and opportunities to respond.
We will be inviting all members of our community to envision how the pope’s visit can spark new opportunities for services and programs to those in need and new resources for effective solutions of housing, education, health care, employment, and income supports. Even for a few days, the pope’s presence here can engender deeper impulses of charity and broader support for public policies that foster true social and economic justice.
Pope Francis has said, “The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need.” He will undoubtedly reiterate that message next fall here in Philadelphia — a message that echoes deep in our own historical origins, as a community founded to be a “city of brotherly love and sisterly affection.” We hope our city, our region, and our nation will hear Pope Francis’s message, and we will respond to the invitation to true greatness — a greatness rooted in human dignity, compassion, and justice.
We invite our friends and supporters to join us in seizing this tremendous opportunity. We will report in future newsletters and on our website of activities and events related to the papal visit. Stayed tuned – and continue to hear that cry of our sisters and brothers who are poor and struggling.
Visit us here for more on the Pope's visit.


These are Chris Aho's Sermons.Most of these are offered to the congregation I serve, Oxford Baptist Church, in Oxford, North Carolina.
Advent - Hope and Promise
A sermon for Oxford Baptist Church on the Third Sunday of Advent 2020.
May we embody the promises and glimpses of hope, even as we away the full fulfillment of hope God promises.
Advent 2 - Anxiety and Hope
A sermon for Oxford Baptist Church for the Second Sunday of Advent.
Today we look at John and how he might show us how to meet the Lord in the wilderness that is 2020.
If you find my cultural references funny, here are a few squares for your bingo card:
Video Game, culture, Dallas Cowboys, strategy, Mike Tyson, lunch, Carolina Panthers, Margins, leadership, organization, lunch, Nintendo, punched in the mouth, "We don't do things like that here"
Advent 1 - Prophecy and Fear
A sermon for Oxford Baptist Church on the First Sunday of Advent 2020.
Scriptures: Mark 13.24-37, Isaiah 64.1-9
Leadership Lessons from Moses for COVID-19
This is a devotional offered to the deacons at their meeting on Sunday, March 15th, 2020. They met to discuss the church's actions related to the COVID-19 virus. It turns out, Moses is helpful on this one.
A sermon for the second Sunday of Lent at Oxford Baptist Church.
In life, we face uncertainty all the time. How do we proceed faithfully?
A sermon for the First Sunday of Lent at Oxford Baptist Church.


This past week, I came across an interesting article entitled "How Natural Disasters Test the Faithful." It went on to discuss how people of faith often find their faith challenged during times of tragedy and suffering, to the point they feel God has abandoned them. As we think back sixteen years ago tomorrow and the attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, Americans found themselves in the throes of just such a deep emotional and spiritual crisis. Our country no longer seemed as invincible as it once had, causing many to wonder how just a handful of terrorists could successfully bring down the world's most important financial center and paralyze the richest, most powerful nation in history. During the late sixties and early seventies, I watched from a distance as those twin towers rose over the Manhattan skyline from our home in New Jersey. Less than thirty years later, these SAME two eyes watched those two buildings burn and collapse in only a matter of hours. A couple of weeks earlier, I had taken my great nephew and great niece up to see the Windows On the World Restaurant that was situated atop the North Tower. I had members of my congregation who were in those buildings at the moment of impact and who managed to get out just in the nick of time. Two days later, we held a special memorial service for the victims in my church where people had an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings. The one question people asked the most was, "But where is God in all of this? What can God say to comfort us amidst such a great and terrible tragedy?"
The question "Where was God?" is one which many serious Christians have asked THEMSELVES at one time or another which is why we look at the author of Psalm 13, our Old Testament lesson, this morning. It seems he is near death although we are not given any information regarding the nature of his suffering. It begins with a fourfold lament, a series of questions in which he asks why he has been forsaken by God. It's not death or illness that he laments as his SENSE OF COMMUNION with God- "Where is God when I cry out to him? Why won't he respond? Does God even CARE about the trials and sufferings of his creation? Is God capable of hearing such cries?"- all THESE are implied in the psalm's opening verses. He does not want to feel separated from his God.
It is to also identify with JOB, a man who once railed against God for all the travail in his life, questioning why one as faithful as himself had been forced to suffer beyond all endurance. It is the same question many a parent has asked him or herself at the news that his or her child has suddenly developed cancer or a spouse is fatally struck by a drunk driver. It was a question that many Texans were asking themselves as they returned to their flooded-out homes and discovered they were not only uninhabitable but many of their most personal and priceless possessions were either missing or destroyed. Yet it DOES happen ALL THE TIME, forcing us to ask aloud, "Why God did you let this tragedy occur? We're supposed to be your children whom you say you love. Where WERE you when we needed you most?"
A couple of years ago, I received the bitter news that my dear cousin Alice had passed away. Although she was in her late sixties, she wasn't even SICK and yet without warning, her heart simply failed her. Alice had always been a special member of the Wood family. To begin with, she was my grandparent's first grandchild, the daughter of my father's oldest brother George, and the first grandchild, it seems, ALWAYS has a special spot in every grandparent's heart. Another reason is that Alice was the only girl in the entire Wood family- all the rest us being boys. This meant that she could be spoiled and doted upon in ways the rest of us couldn't. Fittingly enough, the day my grandmother died that warm Sunday evening in September of 1969, it was with Alice and her family she had spent her last day on earth with.
But life had often been anything BUT kind to Alice. On Good Friday of 1957, she returned home from church with her mother and brother to find her father's body hanging from a pipe in the family living room- he had committed suicide after being despondent over not being able to hold a job due to a drinking problem. In 1975, only three months after my own father had died, her mother-my Aunt Kitty--succumbed to heart disease.
Then ten years after that, her only sibling-Butch--who had been born with a defective heart, left home to buy a part for his car in N.Y. He never came back. For the next few weeks, his family went crazy wondering what had happened to him- they knew he would never just take off. In fact, his health was SO precarious, he had to carry an oxygen bottle with him wherever he went. But their desperate search ended when it was discovered that soon after leaving the auto parts store, he had suffered a fatal heart attack in a MacDonald's parking lot. However, due to incompetence on the part of the police who misplaced his identification, he lay in the county morgue unclaimed for more than a month. The morning his family finally learned of his whereabouts, he had been scheduled to be buried in a paupers' field as an unidentified person. Yet, the unkindest cut of all STILL lay ahead for Alice and her family when the following year, her second son, Joey, developed stomach cancer and after four months of agonizing pain, died in a N.J. hospital. He was only 27.
Alice was one of the most loving, most generous, most compassionate persons I have ever known and her passing has left a huge hole in the family. What greater epitaph can there be over a person's life! Her husband Fred and four children were about as close and supportive as any family could possibly be. They never took a vacation without also taking the entire family with them and more than once I have heard persons say, "How come I couldn't have a marriage and family like Alice and Freddy's?" She was a deeply devout Catholic who never missed Mass under any circumstance and remained active in all areas of her church's life. Her priest, who was also close to her son Joey throughout his illness, even came to her home and offered a private Mass in Joey's honor- one of the most beautiful, meaningful experiences she had ever had. She was in tears as she described it to me.
Not long after Joey's passing, I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at her home. After our meal, I noticed it was getting late and began preparing to leave. Alice insisted on walking me out to my car where she wanted to talk to me in private. She said, "David, I know that you are a man of faith and that you love God. That's why I'm asking you to pray for me. I've been strong all my life- I've had to be, for the sake of my mother, my brother, and now my family with Joey's death. But David, my strength is now gone. Every night, I cry out to God and ask, "'Why, Lord? Why did you have to take Joey? I've always loved you, served you, worshiped you, tried to be as obedient a child of yours as I possibly could be- yet my life never gets any easier.'" Then she said, "David, I have such anger towards God. I don't know where my faith is any longer. Yes, I still go to church but it's not so much out of devotion as it is for the sake of my family- I want THEM to go. Please pray that I recover my faith, Dave."
It was a very emotional moment and I again realized how much I loved my cousin- for her vulnerability as well as for her many strengths. I can't recall specifically what I said but I DO remember reassuring her that it was perfectly OK to be angry at God, that rather than FAITHLESSNESS, such anger reflects the very OPPOSITE- the presence of a vital and dynamic faith underneath it. You see, apathy, indifference, a complete loss of feelings- THESE are what characterize a loss of faith while anger speaks of living in relationship with the one you are angry with. Like a modern-day Job, you may feel frustrated with God; you may be annoyed by the lack of clear answers, yet the lines of communication still remain open. Pure and simple, that's all faith IS- an open signal between God and ourselves through which we express our anger and our hurt as well as our love and dependence.
As I drove away from her home, I prayed for her and her family wishing that I could be HALF the Christian she was. I also knew that no amount of time could ever erase the hurt of losing a loved one, ESPECIALLY a son or daughter. Yet I knew that with God's continuing faithfulness and presence in her life, she would survive and become even STRONGER for it. In time that in fact DID happen and I know she became an empathetic presence for so many OTHERS who lost a child and had had difficulty dealing with tragedies of their OWN.
I relate this story about my cousin because in spite of her unresolved questions and troubling doubts and anger over the loss of her son, she never stopped looking to God for his strength and grace and love. Instead of feeling aggrieved over life and retreating within a prison of her own pity and private hurts, she CONTINUED to worship with God's people, CONTINUED to volunteer at church functions, and CONTINUED to be the very best friend she could be to all she met. She remained obedient to her calling as a child of God REGARDLESS of how hard it was to believe at times. Her faith and its habits were so ingrained within her that this was all she COULD do while intuitively knowing that this was the only way she would ever find healing and wholeness in her life again.
It is inevitable that ALL sincere persons of faith are going to confront at one time or another great and often intractable questions about God- questions of WHO God is, WHERE God is, and possibly IF God is. Even JESUS in the garden of Gethsemane, with the lengthening shadow of that cross looming ever closer, had his OWN questions and fears to contend with. As I close, I want to leave you with three essential truths which remain central to my OWN faith. The FIRST is that OUR FAITH IS ALWAYS DEEPER THAN OUR DOUBTS.
In my first pastorate in Pennsylvania, I had to break the news to a family who lived a few houses down from me how less than an hour before, their only son had been tragically killed when he fell into a sawdust bin at the local mill and smothered to death. It was an unfortunate accident and I can still hear his mother imploring over and over again, "WHY, God? WHY did you let this happen? WHY did you allow my beloved son Sam to die!" Yet, she and her husband, like MOST people who experience a terrible tragedy in life, DID eventually come to terms with his death and make peace with God. The following Sunday and then the next and every Sunday AFTERWARD, they could be found back in their church, praising and thanking God for the life of their dear son Sam and for the opportunity they'd been given to raise him as their own. But that's the way it is with FAITH- once you've been in possession of it, it gets IN you and takes HOLD of you so that it becomes IMPOSSIBLE to rid yourself of it, EVER. As one of my seminary professors used to put it, "I could never NOT be a Christian. I've got God too much in my CELLS."
The SECOND point is that if faith is always stronger than our doubts, then in those times when we no longer think we have such faith, when it seems our confidence and ability to trust Christ's words has become weak or depleted, we can always take heart in the fact that GOD'S FAITH IN US IS ALWAYS GREATER THAN OUR OWN FAITH IN GOD. There is nothing more defeatist than to think the Christian life must be spent trying to find and hold onto God's hand with all our might lest we let go and lose him altogether when the truth is just the OPPOSITE- God's finds US and holds OUR hands and promises he will never let US go. We can be assured that even in our periods of greatest doubt, God promises to be there for us, to bear us up in the face of those doubts, and to carry us through to a living faith once again.
And THIRD point I would leave you with is this, that GOD IS AS PRESENT AND ACTIVE IN THE WORLD TODAY AS HE WAS YESTERDAY AND WILL BE TOMORROW, ENDLESSLY OFFERING US HIS PERSONAL PRESENCE. God is present in and through the hearts and hands of his Church--the Body of Christ--who are PARTICULAR agents of his love during times of crisis. Fr. Michael Judge was a Catholic chaplain who was also well known throughout NYC for ministering to the homeless , the hungry, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, the sick, injured, and grieving, immigrants , gays and lesbians and those alienated by the Church and society. He once gave the winter coat off his back to a homeless woman in the street, later saying, "She needed it more than me." When he anointed a man who was dying of AIDS, the man asked him, "Do you think God hates me?" Judge just picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Upon learning that the World Trade Center had been hit by the first of two jetliners, Father Judge rushed to the site. There, he was met by Mayor Guiliani who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge prayed over some bodies lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center North Tower , where an emergency command post had been organized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured, and the dead. When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am, debris went flying through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside, including Judge. At the moment he was struck in the head and killed, Judge was repeatedly praying aloud, "Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!" To those firefighters and policemen who knew him, he was the living incarnation of Jesus Christ to them.
But God was ALSO present through those cops and fire fighters, those first-responders and volunteers who were more concerned about the health and safety of others than their OWN. God is present today through agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross which will be busy offering disaster relief for years to come, and in those many volunteers who helped to rescue persons trapped in homes and on rooftops throughout the Houston and now Florida regions. There's an old joke about a religious man on top of his roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says "Get in, get in!" The religious man replies, "No I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle." Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by. The guy steering it tells him to get in but he responds that he has faith in God and God will give him a miracle. With the water now at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down that offer again because "God will grant him a miracle." With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get on. Mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help because he's convinced that ultimately GOD will save him. Eventually the man drowns after which he arrives at the gates of heaven. There, with broken faith, he says to Peter, "I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down." St. Peter chuckles and responds, "I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter." The fact is that God works through humble, selfless, faith-filled people who become his hands and feet and voice in a terribly fragmented world.
Many Christians mistakenly believe that everything that occurs in the world is the will of God, and that includes terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Some even go so far as to assert that such events represent God's wrath against a particular group of persons or a particular set of behaviors, such as Jerry Falwell who once attributed AIDS as God's wrath against all gay persons. Well not for a MOMENT do I believe that God either willed or condoned the attacks on the World Trade Center nor any of those natural disasters we have experienced for the past couple of weeks. Rather, scripture teaches us that the world is broken and doesn't work the way God originally intended it to, that tragedy and suffering are an essential part of the human condition. However, when such events are viewed through the eyes of FAITH, we are then able to sense how God is present EVEN DURING THE MOST TERRIBLE OF MOMENTS. We are somehow aware that his grace and forgiveness and love is abundantly available to help bring some healing to all our woundedness. We see such faith in the author of Psalm 13, how in spite of the mystery and questions he has regarding his plight, he refuses to give in to cynicism or despair. He CONTINUES to trust in God's love and rejoices in his salvation REGARDLESS of how dire his situation becomes, ultimately confessing how "God has dealt bountifully with me."
In the same way, despite all the mystery and lack of clear answers, God exhorts US to remain faithful. We are encouraged to trust in God's presence and goodness IN SPITE OF his perceived absence for in the moment of our greatest need he is there all the same, holding us tightly with those invisible arms of support. God was present with each of those victims on 9/11 and he grieved with their families in the days that followed. Likewise, God mourns with the families of those lost in LAST WEEK'S flooding and he stands alongside the great tide of those left homeless by THIS WEEKEND'S devastation. In times such as these, there will doubtless be some frustration, anger, and resentment and much of it will be directed towards God. And though we may think that God has ABANDONED us or perhaps that our own faith has LEFT us, I can assure you that God HAS NOT and NEVER WILL abandon us- EVER, ESPECIALLY in those moments we need him most, and of THAT, we are promised. Let us pray...
Heavenly Father, may we never fail to draw close to you when life becomes hard or even takes a tragic turn. May we always be confident in knowing that your faith and love in us far exceeds our faith and love in you, and that not even our anger or fear or extreme doubt can possibly separate us from your abiding care. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.


- This event has passed.
Congo Mission Network 2019 Conference
October 19, 2019 @ 9:30 am - 11:00 am
The Enough Project’s Advocacy Manager Ayman Nagy will be a guest speaker at Congo Mission Network, an annual conference bringing together leaders from the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nagy will be discussing student activism and Enough’s Conflict-Free Campus Initiative during the agenda topic ‘U.S. Partners Empowering Women & Youth for Leadership.’


Prayer is not an exercise; it is a way of life.
On the days we can’t sit and pray and read our Bibles because God has called us to action, we can still be exercising prayer.
We’re shooting up prayers all the time. We are in a continuous “state of prayer”.
Like when someone is in the hospital. What do you think God expects? Do you honestly think it’s more important we have our “special” time or that we hightail it to the hospital first thing so we can get the doctor’s report.
Do we really need to ask?
And yet I’ve known people who are so caught up with their “spirituality”, they do just that.
While it’s good to have a regular time with God, we have to be careful that our habit doesn’t become more habit than privilege.
Today I’m way late for my devotions. I had to pick up my mom from the hospital, check her medication, schedule a follow-up appointment and start her dinner.
That was my prayer.
Hope your day is going well.
God bless all who read this today.


We have to stop asking, “What can I do?” and we have to start asking, “What can God do?”
Be a believer.
Be connected. Be available.
Do life together.
Do grow in your faith.
Do share Jesus Christ. Don’t wait another week! Start planning and take action.
Each of us should have general topics that we study, in Scripture, over the course of our lives to benefit our spiritual growth. I believe that God has created us for spiritual health, and that if we tend to the health of our spirit – it will naturally grow. This comes without straining for good works, but develops through a natural process. Of course, it requires effort on our part – the spending of time and energy.
Each of us benefits from the coaching toward guided study.
Here’s my thought:
Make an effort to study the topics listed below by using the following methods:
Devotional Reading – reading a passage of Scripture, prayerfully, in an uninterrupted block of time.
Memorization – In the Scripture this practice is emphasized and often combined with meditation. This might be choosing a select verse (or even phrase) and committing it to memory and then meditating on it, by repeating it and/or applying it by thoughtful application over the course of a day or series of days.
Study – This may start with a word study, build toward a passage study, and develop into a theme study. This practice will produce great results! Often you may find yourself starting by writing out observations from your devotional study and memorization. This can lead toward more structured study. I would discourage you from reading commentaries. One of the worst habits Christians develop is reading the opinions of others when grappling with a Scripture. When it gets difficult keep working at it.
Here’s a string of Scriptures to consider:
Christianity is a verb: state of being and an action.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
Acts 26:18 I am sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place among in the family, inviting them into the company of those who are sanctified begin real living by faith believing in me. The Message
Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:42-27 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.


“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, ‘Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.’ And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!’ This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
Today, I would like to speak to you about the passages in the Gospel of John chapter 2, verse 1 through verse 11. The event occurring on the day of the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee speaks to us about “What is the greatest obstacle to our faith in God?” To the servants who were worrying over the lack of wine at the feast, Jesus says, “Pour water into the waterpots of stone. Fill them up to the brim. Then, draw some out and take it to the congratulators.” Jesus’ mother Mary told the servants to carry out the Word of Jesus as it is regardless of what He says. The servants who had obeyed and followed this Word filled the waterpots with water and took them to the congratulators according to what Jesus has said. Then, they tasted the miracle of that water turning into wine.
What Is the Greatest Obstacle in Our Life of Faith?
Dear fellow believers, do you know what this Word of God means? Through this Word, God tells us the fact that the greatest problem for believing in God and leading a life of faith is none other than one’s own fleshly thoughts. As we go about believing in and obeying God, what hinders us the most is the fleshly thoughts of ours and nothing else. God is telling us that when a person is bound by one’s own fleshly thoughts, and when a person insists on one’s own fleshly thoughts, we can neither follow nor obey the Word of God.
What would have happened if the servants appearing in the above passage had been people of strong personal opinion and many fleshly thoughts? They surely would have thought, “He is joking. Even though I can fill up the waterpots with water, there is no way that I can obey the Word telling us to draw some and take it out to the people. It is because what those people want is wine, not water.” This might seem like appropriate and logical thinking. But, if they had believed in their thoughts and did not draw some water and brought it to people, they would not have been able to witness the miracle of water turning into wine. Furthermore, they would not have been able to gain such a great joy resulting from it.
Dear fellow believers, as we lead a life of faith, what is the greatest obstruction that prevents us from solving certain problems by faith? Precisely, it is our fleshly thought which sways our faith. This is a problem which just cannot be considered lightly. It is because people who have many fleshly thoughts of one’s own can neither believe in nor follow the Word of God. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). The very first thing that we must do when we try to follow the Word of Jesus is to deny our thoughts. Therefore, when leading a life of faith, it is very important for us to throw away our own fleshly thoughts.
We believe that all the Word of God written in the Bible is the truth. The truth spoken by God is simple, yet it is the perfect truth. Thus, all one had to do is to just accept it as it is, but there are times when fleshly thoughts creep up and obstruct it. Fleshly thoughts come up by themselves, and thus, there is even a saying that a human being is but a thinking reed. You also have many fleshly thoughts, don’t you? Yet, when you dwell in those fleshly thoughts, the faith of believing in the Word of God will soon disappear completely and there will only remain useless thoughts. When that happens, the faith of believing in the Word of God will no longer exist. Having become unable to believe in God, you will no longer be able to follow God in the end. Also, we will feel anguish and guilt because of this result. Dear fellow believers, I hope you know that people who have many thoughts of their own can neither follow nor believe in God, and in the end, they will be unable to receive salvation from sins.
Throw Away Your Useless Thoughts and Believe in the Written Word of the Truth, the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
You tend to think of the faith in the Word of God only as something difficult, but in truth walking by the word of faith is surprisingly simple. All you have to do is to just believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit written in the Bible and some other Words besides. This is the simple and clear Truth, but because of our useless thoughts, we often get confused and truly suffer through pain a lot.
Let us consider an example. We have heard many times the passage of John 1:29 that states, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Upon hearing a Word like this, those who say, “I understand. Jesus took away all the sins of the world by having taken them on by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. It is all over. I have no sin. The Lord has taken on my sins through the baptism and vicariously died on the Cross by having them with Him once and for all. Like so, He has vicariously suffered the judgment on the Cross, so what need is there for us to be offering a sacrifice again? Hallelujah. Amen,” We have already received the remission of sins.
But, how are our fleshly thoughts? Unable to believe in that Word of God purely, it makes us think, “This Word must mean that He has taken away only the original sin of people. I have committed so many sins and I will go on committing sins in the future, too. So, how could He have taken away those sins as well? This passage expresses clearly that He has taken away only the original sin.” If one were to interpret the Word like that with one’s own fleshly thoughts, then even if he believes in Jesus ardently, he won’t be able to receive salvation from sins.
Furthermore, people’s fleshly thoughts are more than just an obstacle to one’s receiving of salvation from sins. It is the same after having received salvation from sins. When there is a problem, if one were to believe, “I believe God will take care of the problem,” then by that faith, the problem would already be over. If one were to throw away one’s own fleshly thought, “Will it truly get solved?” and believe in the Word of God perfectly, then everything that the person wishes for will actually get realized.
When we deliver the gospel to others by faith, it is also the same. If we calculate according to fleshly thought, “Will people come to this revival meeting, or not?” our faith will gradually disappear. Even though you had believed in the Word of God up until just a minute ago, if you are falling into your own fleshly thoughts, then those thoughts will eat away the faith of believing in the Lord and later on, you will become someone who has no single piece of faith of believing in the Word of God. In the end, the faith inside your hearts will conceal itself.
How Wrong Are Our Fleshly Thoughts?
People can think, but you must realize that thinking becomes a great obstruction before God. In our pursuit of the Lord, fleshly thoughts only eat away one’s faith toward the Lord. If the faith, which is more precious than anything else, that is, if the priceless faith given by the Lord were to disappear completely due to your fleshly thoughts and mine, how sad would this be? You say that you believe in the righteousness of God. Yet, your thoughts that continue to perk up are eating away that faith in all. If you allow your thoughts to work with full freedom, your faith will only be reduced to just its shell. Faith will be nowhere to be found, and only your fleshly desires will remain.
Dear fellow believers, like this, fleshly thoughts are a great enemy to the spiritual faith. Our thoughts are prone to lead us to be enemies of God. They are obstacles to our unconditional faith and pitfalls in our way of following Him.
Dear fellow believers, a life of faith isn’t just going back and forth from God’s Church. True faith is coming to God’s Church, listening to the Word, emptying one’s thoughts by having faith in that Word, believing in the Lord, and following Him. However, up until now, you probably have had the faith of believing in and following the Lord only when you conclude that the Word seems to agree with your own thinking within your reasoning. If this is the case, you still haven’t been able to empty your thoughts. But, you will also realize soon that when the faith deepens a bit more, you will reach the state in which you will deny your thoughts, believe in only the Lord purely, and follow Him. You will realize that God expects precisely such a state from us.
Many people have the faith of following the Word when it is suitable to their thoughts and not following it when it is not suitable. Despite having said that they believe in the Word, when fleshly thoughts arise in their hearts and doubts start to appear, people do not believe in it. Such people decide that although they did receive the remission of sins through Jesus, they can no longer just perfectly believe and follow the Word after having thought about it with reason. “Is this right? Is this not right? Will it be possible? Will it not be possible? I think this is like this and that is like that….” Like so, when there are so many thoughts of one’s own, in the end, nothing will get realized. Whatever that may be, even 0.1% of the possibility will disappear.
Do you think that there is a chance for people like this to receive salvation? Well, let us think. Let’s say that you have listened to the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Even while listening to the Word, this thought and that occurs in your mind. With that, 30% of the faith will have been eaten away. Thinking a bit more, you are really stubborn and selfish, and you have committed many sins. With the deepening of doubt, 60% of faith will have disappeared. You think more. “As expected, because my personality is bad, I’m impossible.” Now, 90% has disappeared. And with the disappearance of the remaining 10% of faith and as you conclude that it just isn’t possible, it will come to an end. The fact is that your chance to receive salvation becomes 0%. Would there be any faith which you can rely on left? The fact of the matter is that you can no longer receive the salvation due to the fleshly thought, “I cannot receive the salvation. I will go to hell. Who would forgive me? I want to be saved from sins, but it will be impossible for me.”
Like This, So-called Fleshly Thought Is What Gnaws Away the True Faith
Even thought we have fleshly thoughts, genuine faith is to believe in, obey, and follow the Word of God so purely, as deemed to be a fool, instead of following those thoughts. It means that to believe like that is the true faith. As we think fleshly more and more, it drops the possibility for all things. As we continue to think, it will appear as though there are just so many things that simply cannot be done. Dear fellow believers, in believing in the Lord and following Him, the effort to try to find what suits reason and what fits thoughts aren’t necessary. The fact is that we must believe in God just simply, honestly, and purely in order to follow God.
Speaking frankly, I also was someone who has had great many thoughts. When I was young, I used to look at ants, squatting down as an ant crawls by and thinking all the while, “Why is that ant crawling? Which hole did it come from, and where is it going? Did it come out to look for food?” I had all sorts of thoughts as I watched ants fighting each other and moving about seeking sheltering when the rain came down. It has been the same as I looked at people. Even when I saw a man just walking by, I have had endless doubts, “Why was he born? Where is he going? Why does he go on living? What is his purpose in life?”
But now, I have realized it all. I have realized the fact that such thoughts aren’t much of use before God. No matter how hard a human being thinks about the purpose of life, in the end, there will be nothing. When one arrives at the thought’s end, only the conclusion that there is no need for living out life comes out. As Koreans summarize life as, ‘Birth, Aging, Sickness, Death,’ the events in life for every single person can be summed up as being born, getting old, getting sick, and dying. Like so, human thinking before God is futile and worthless.
Shall we once more ponder upon our lives right now? As we think about our lives, we will discover ourselves quickly becoming grandfathers and grandmothers, and in the end, entering a grave. As we reach the end of such thoughts, would we be alive? The fact is that we are already dead. I’m not saying that such thinking in itself is bad. It is because if we do not think, we would be the same as animals. The important thing is that although we can think, we mustn’t live out our lives getting swept away by such thoughts and living according to them.
It is the same thing with faith. Although we can have many thoughts as we go on following the Lord, we must never have faith in accordance with such thoughts. Then, what would be the proper way of following the Lord? What must we do to receive the salvation of the spirit? We must believe in only God. There is no other way but to believe like this. In that, there is no need for any wisdom or thoughts of ours. When thoughts deepen and grow in number, people who should be receiving salvation won’t even be able to receive it. Without faith, the spirit can never be saved. The fact is that without faith, nothing can be realized, regardless of what it may be.
Deny Your Fleshly Thoughts and Possess Pure Faith
Through the Word of God, we can learn the fact that believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit simply is the genuine faith. As we deny our thoughts and believe in and follow God, God sees such pure faiths of ours and saves souls by performing the work. As we lead a life of faith, if we try to fit all sorts of things to our thoughts and to discern what fits that reasoning, we will never be able to follow the will of the Lord. Rather, such people will always be captured in their thoughts, and thus, they will worry, feel gloomy, and feel unhappiness. The fact is that they will live out their entire life like that under the gloomy weather, unable to see the clear day. Everyday it will be gloomy, and everyday there will only be rain and thick fog. Each day will be full of worries and sadness.
It you had been someone with many thoughts of your own, you would not have been able to draw water and take it to the congratulators saying, “This is wine,” like the servants mentioned in today’s Scripture passage. Even though Jesus has said it and Mary has said it, you would never have been able to do so. According to your fleshly thoughts, it is just water and never wine. It is because you would have already decided in your thoughts that the water will never turn into wine.
Like this, people who have many thoughts of their own are all bound to leave the gospel. They will depart from the Church and the Word of Truth which becomes life. People who have many thoughts of their own depart from the faith of believing in God. If this is the case, then how will they be able to believe and follow? Someone who follows human thought deriving from a brain that is not even the size of a fist more than the faith in God, can never be able to follow the Lord. The possibility of that is absolutely none. We must live out our life of faith by knowing this fact.
If we want to believe in and follow the Lord, the very first thing that we must do is to throw away our thoughts. Only by doing so, can we believe in the Lord and serve the Lord by faith. Only when we throw away our thoughts can we carry out the faith. Even as I speak to you, you mustn’t try to fit it together with your thoughts and reason. With this Word, I can speak to you not only today but also tomorrow. I can speak about it all week long, 365 days a year. Because this Word is the truth, I am saying that I can do so at will. However, even if I were to speak like that all through the 365 days a year, if you were to listen with the thought, “He spoke the same thing during the morning worship today, yet how come he has so much more to say?” then you will never be able to obtain salvation.
We follow our Lord by faith and we believe in the Lord. However, let us consider for a moment that we will be leading this sort of life of faith for the next year, 2 years, 10 years, 20 years, and so on. If there are too many fleshly thoughts, we will never be able to follow the Lord for that length of time.
Dear fellow believers, there are many famous figures among theologians. However, most of their conclusions are that one cannot believe in the Word of God. All of them only reach the conclusion of not being able to accept Jesus’ Divinity, saying, “I cannot believe in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. I can accept Jesus who has come as a human being, but I cannot accept the fact that He is the Son of God.” Some others may say, “I can accept the Divinity of Jesus, but I cannot accept His human nature. I cannot accept Jesus who came as a human being.” Hence, they say they cannot believe in God. They are unable to follow the Lord purely. However, faith starts from denying one’s own thoughts. Faith starts from there. Faith starts from the moment when one discards one’s own thoughts and starts to believe in God.
In Our Life of Faith, We Must Fight against Our Fleshly Thoughts Incessantly and Go on Denying Them
As we have believed in the righteousness of God all this while, on how many occasions did we reckon, and on how many occasions did we doubt with numerous thoughts? Whenever that happens, we cannot but follow the righteousness of God with a genuine faith. The moment when we deny our thoughts, as if it were a lie, we will be able to realize and believe in the righteousness of God, and we will have become able to follow the Lord perfectly. Those who doubt their faith do so precisely because they haven’t been able to deny their fleshly thoughts. Once they start thinking that they can never believe in or follow the Lord, they will end up giving up on faith. Gradually, they will become more distant from the reach of salvation given by God. People who wholeheartedly love and follow the righteousness of God are those that deny their fleshly thoughts and just purely believe in the Word of God. People who think, “I am a fool,” and believe in the righteousness of God simply are the ones who follow God.
Dear fellow believers, ironically, if one were to think a lot from the outset, the person can give up such thinking. It is truly an interesting solution. Therefore, people who think just a little and have doubts about faith must think a lot more. They must think by dividing up their sleep time. One has to think for about a year on a single issue. Only then, can it be said that a lot of thinking had gone into it. Afterwards, having reached the end of thinking, one must stand on top of the fact that there can never be possibilities or hope through thinking. Only then will that person be able to deny his or her thoughts.
If you are someone who has to do a lot more thinking, please do not do it at the Church. Sit on the toilet seat at your house and think. When you think only a little, you start thinking even when you shouldn’t be doing so. However, people who think much actually don’t do that much thinking when I encourage them to think much. It is because they are constantly thinking. It is the same logic as a person who doesn’t usually offer prayers carrying on a long prayer that lasts for an hour when asked to lead a prayer.
Dear fellow believers, with regard to the works of the world, we must think a lot. It is because the works of the world are such that if you were to think a lot and come to a decision with prudence, you can arrive at a conclusion that is as good as you would like. I’m not saying you shouldn’t even be thinking that as well. However, in relation to believing in God, we must utterly throw away all our thoughts. Faith isn’t something that can be built within the level of our thinking. Therefore, we must renounce our thoughts. Only then, will we be able to believe in God purely.
Our fleshly thoughts, which may be necessary in worldly works, are of no use before God. But, what are we like? We say we want to live out our faith in God, but we are prone to have faith in the Word only when it seems to be in agreement with the logic of this world. However, we abandon our faith in the Word if it doesn’t seem to be plausible. Then, how could there be faith in such hearts? There is no way. Even the remaining faith as well as the salvation will vanish. Even now, there are many people who fight against their thoughts. When that happens, instead of thinking superficially, you must think about it without sleeping for nights on end. Only then, you get to realize, “Alas, my thinking is meaningless. It only gives me a headache,” and then stand up, fluttering away all thoughts. From that moment on, you start to obey the Word of God by faith. Dear fellow believers, do you understand?
People with many thoughts have their thoughts written all over their faith. They can neither find the proper way of faith nor joyfully sing songs of praise. They can neither follow nor serve the Lord. Only those who discard their fleshly thoughts and wish to follow God perfectly can truly obtain the genuine faith.
Only Those Who Throw Away Their Own Thoughts Can Follow the Lord
Through the Word of today’s Scripture passage, we must know about this part. Only those who throw away their thoughts can follow the Lord. God gives us so many promises. Through the Word He witnesses many things. However, if we do not throw away our thoughts, those Words can never come inside our hearts. It means that we cannot believe in them. Is what I say understandable? Can you realize the fact that one must deny one’s own thoughts to have genuine faith? If a person cannot deny his or her thoughts, then the person will unable to lead a Church life properly. Even in our Church, there are many who cannot come to the Church for not having been able to deny their thoughts. Such people wander around. Thus, from a certain perspective, it is no exaggeration to say that only the fools are gathered at the Church. They indeed are fools, but they are the fools of the Kingdom of God, not the fools of the world. Not only that, they are those whose level has surpassed that of this world.
Dear fellow believers, because Einstein, a worldly genius, was so smart, it is said that people at the time weren’t able to understand his hypothetical notions. Even now, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity sounds very difficult to the lame people. Even if people are aware of the theory, the fact is that they aren’t able to understand 100% of what he has said. People, whose level has surpassed that of the world, think for a long time, and as they do so, they acknowledge the fact that there is a limit to their thinking. In the end, they submit themselves to God. However, if one’s own thoughts are limited, the person won’t be able to deny those shallow thoughts, and in turn, he will be unable to follow the Lord, having fallen into obstinacy.
Your Thoughts Become Your Greatest Enemy
This is also the same for me. What also becomes the greatest enemy to me is my own thought. Therefore, following the Lord is something that is so very difficult. As there is an enemy within oneself that cries out and rationalizes one’s own thoughts, how can it not be difficult? It is so difficult that one just simply can’t imagine it. Nevertheless, anyone who cannot deny one’s own thoughts that are inside his or her heart will never be able to follow the Lord. Such a person will surely be separated from the Lord. Everyone throughout the world is the same.
On the other hand, those who deny their thoughts, despite their lacking, get to receive protection inside the Church. Those who think much in social circumstances but deny those thoughts before God will grow to be a new green life inside the Church. It is because God works through them. You all possess such possibilities.
Dear fellow believers, there are times when someone who had been leading a life of faith will all of a sudden leave the Church. Despite having been recognized by the Church, people who are no longer here at the Church now are those who haven’t been able to deny their thoughts. They had thought that they were smarter than God. For this reason, they have left the Lord in pursuit of their thoughts. Just like Lot mentioned in the Old Testament, they had decided that their thoughts are wiser than those of Abraham and even God.
Shall we talk a bit more about Lot? Abraham and Lot, whose possessions had grown so much that they could no longer live together, decided to go about their own ways. At the time, Lot looked and saw the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw that it was very good for raising stock, rich in soil as if it were the Garden of Eden. In God’s view, the land was full of evil. But he, following his own thoughts, discarded God and went to that land. In the end, when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot lost all his wealth and barely escaped with just his body. However, Lot’s wife was reluctant and looked back toward Sodom and Gomorrah. Just then, she turned into a pillar of salt and died. Lot’s story warns us in advance of how horrific the result of not having denied one’s own thoughts is.
Lot was clearly a righteous person. However, unable to neither overcome nor throw away his shallow thoughts, he went to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thus, fell into a path toward destruction. On the other hand, Abraham, following the Word of God, entered the land of Canaan which is in today’s terms, Palestine. Just then, God appeared before Abraham and promised him, “For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever,” (Genesis 13:15). In the end, Abraham, who had followed God, received the promised land of Canaan as an inheritance and became the ancestor of faith. We can say that this is the result of Abraham believing in and following God instead of following his thoughts.
Imagine the path Abraham had gone through. It is completely full of rocks, and as we look at its base, we can see that there isn’t much plant life. It only seems like a land where only scorpions that bite and kill human beings can live. But referring to that land, God said it to be a land that is so rich that it flows with milk and honey. Flowing with milk and honey, could the land be so dried up and arid like that? According to human thinking, the Word simply did not make sense at all. However, God said that this place was the land that flows with milk and honey and that the land of Sodom and Gomorrah was a land destined to receive the judgment. Lot, who had followed his own thoughts and went to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, was destroyed. Abraham, who had discarded his thoughts and followed God’s Word into the land of Canaan, got to enjoy glory for all generations in the land of Canaan, which became rich according to the Word of God.
When we view the land of Israel through the mass media, and when we hear the Israelites speak, we can see that the land of Canaan has truly turned into a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Often, it is said that the delta regions, that is, island-like places that have appeared with the mounting of earth after the stopping of a water flow, are the best land for farming. It is said that anything planted there will grow well because of the rich, heaped up soil carried there by the water. Right now, the land of Israel is rich like that. The land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey as mentioned in the Bible, at the time was a barren land; but now, truly according to the Word, it has turned into a land flowing with milk and honey. Of course, the rain comes down only once or twice a year, but if one were to just plant seeds and give water to the rich soil which has been heaping up for thousands of years, the seeds, having naturally absorbed that nutrition, will all grow well.
This is exactly what God spoke of. Even though the rain doesn’t come down often in Israel, people gear up sprinklers, draw water, and spray it on top of the plants. For every single apple tree and for every single flower, there is a water pipe that is connected to a sprinkler system. Water is turned on and off by a timer system. Then, all the plants throughout the entire land of Israel get fed water. Everyone who has been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land speak alike about how rich that land of Israel has become. The richness of the land of Israel right now shows us how well those who have denied their thoughts and followed God’s Word, as well as their descendants, get to live. Abraham followed God’s Word instead of his thoughts. If people want to go on following the Word like that, they must first of all deny their own thoughts.
Like the Word mentioned in the introduction, if people want to taste the water that has turned into wine, they must first of all deny their thoughts. Even if they don’t want to deny them, they must deny them. I hope for you to know that this is the proper way. Even though they might not suit reason, people must accept it by saying, “Alas, this must be the proper way, the established way.” If you are unable to deny your thoughts, then I want you to agonize over why you can’t do so and to pray. A life of faith isn’t something that you carry out in just any sort of manner. You must learn what is following by faith, what is self-denial, and what is genuine faith. Just as the servants were able to taste a much better wine by having followed the Word spoken by Jesus as it is, we must do the same. This is exactly what today’s Scripture passage is telling us is. This is the Truth, the faith, and the belief.
Dear fellow believers, do you believe this? Like this, the Bible speaks to us about something highly precious, but most of us go on looking at the Bible too halfheartedly. Because we look at it too halfheartedly, we go on believing in God halfheartedly and also go on judging based on our thoughts, thinking that we already know, even though we don’t grasp the Word properly.
We Must Remove Our Thoughts Which Are Obstacles to Our Life of Faith
Dear fellow believers, God is speaking out the truly exalted Word. Like this, He is telling us what the greatest obstruction to a life of faith is. The obstruction is that we must remove ‘one’s own thoughts.’ We mustn’t put forth our thoughts before God. We must deny all our own thoughts and believe in and follow only God. Do you believe in and follow only God? I also believe in and follow Him. Such faith is the same as saying that I deny my own thoughts. It means that at least before God, I turn down my thoughts. With things of this world, the more I think, the better I can do, but before God, I am saying that I will never put on airs. Before worldly people, I profess my thoughts, but at least before God, I am saying that I will deny my own thoughts.
Dear fellow believers, we must deny our own thoughts to have genuine faith. Everyday, your face is dark due to many thoughts. You aren’t able to see the blessing that God gives to you due to many thoughts. You worry as if only the things on this earth are everything due to your countless thoughts. Do you want to live like that? If you are feeling stuffy and vexing because God’s Word does not fit reason as you think about it, then try to throw away your own thoughts at once right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, You are right.”
Cain and Abel
When Cain and Abel offered sacrifice to God, Cain offered with what he had gathered from farming, but Abel offered sacrifice with a lamb he had killed. But God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s sacrifice. Hence, Cain started to think, “That Abel played everyday, and all he did was kill a lamb and to slap it on top of a stone. Yet, God accepted only the sacrifice of Abel. For a year I farmed diligently, washed the products of the ground clean, and placed them sincerely. Yet, He accepted none of mine. This does not suit reason. This is unfair.” Cain, who had gotten peevish, became very angry and his countenance fell. From a fleshly perspective, God may seem unfair. However, having fallen into his own thoughts, Cain did not know the will of God.
When Adam and Eve, the parents of Cain and Abel, committed the sin of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,” (Genesis 3:17-18). The fact is that the ground was cursed for Adam’s sake. Having given sacrifice with things of the ground which had been cursed, it is only right that God did not accept them. However, Cain was absolutely unaware of the will of God, and unwilling to know what sort of sacrifice God wanted. He offered a sacrifice just according to his own thoughts. Furthermore, when God did not accept the sacrifice he had offered according to his own thoughts, he became angry and thus, he went on to commit the sin of murder, killing his younger brother. His fleshly thoughts that do not follow God had called forth murder. Like this, one’s own fleshly thoughts that have nothing to do with God can bring about horrific results. Those who go to hell in the end for having been unable to throw away their fleshly thoughts and for having rejected the Word of God are like Cain.
Deny Your Thoughts and Throw Away Your Thoughts! You Must Do So before God
Dear fellow believers, the gospel of the Bible is very simple. Through simple words, the Bible tells us what is to follow God, which one is the proper way, and what sort of faith is the proper faith. Just as much better wine came out when the servants threw away their own thoughts and did as they were told, the proper life of faith is achieved when we deny our own thoughts and throw them away before the Word of God. Average people put out good wine in the beginning and then put out wine of less quality than that later. But as for this house in which Jesus performed the miracle, the wine that came out later was of better quality than that which came out in the beginning. It was the result of everyone throwing away human thinking and following the Word of Jesus.
The Bible tells us of such truth. If so, what must our faith become in order to be proper? The fact is that we must precisely be throwing away our thoughts before God at least. That is the proper faith. Dear fellow believers, do you believe in this? Truly, we must believe in only God and follow God with the purity of a fool before God. Of course, in things of the world, we must think wisely and come up with decisions. Thinking must be used precisely in such worldly things.
Dear fellow believers, let us all become those who believe in God properly. If we just believe without fleshly thoughts, we will surely become the people of faith. If we think and consider whether or not it fits our reasoning, faith will vanish. Even if you do believe in the Word, if you have too much of your thoughts, then the faith in His Word will disappear.
Who are the people of faith? They are none other than those who deny their thoughts. Who are the descendants of Abraham? They are those who deny one’s own thoughts; they are those who just believe in and follow God.
Dear fellow believers, do believe like this?


Traffic Jam (365 Days of Daring Faith – DAY 202)
Psalm 51:10 (NLT)
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
You know the feeling of being stuck in traffic for any length of time. It can be frustrating because you know you have to be somewhere and you’re eager to get there but something beyond your control is holding you up. This frustration comes from an overwhelming inability to be patient and let things work out in time.
The experience of being in a traffic jam is not too far off from the way many of us live our lives spiritually. We know we should be further down the road than we are but for some reason, we are stuck. Our maturity level is lower than we want it to be. But the good news is that God doesn’t leave us stuck in a traffic jam. If we really want it, He gives us a clean heart and a renewed spirit within.
God doesn’t give up on His children. He delights in restoring and renewing the lives of His children especially when we are willing to surrender to His plan and will. Scripture is full of promises that God will sustain us when necessary, uproot us when needed, and bless us unconditionally. Don’t give up when you find yourself in a traffic jam. Keep your eyes on God and let Him guide you to embrace His strength and faithfulness in your life.
“You are either becoming more like Christ every day or you are becoming less like Him. There is no neutral position in the Lord.”
— Stormie Omartian


Help Make an Impact!
Four volunteers are needed to serve meals to-go on:
Tuesday, February 7 at the Bethel Church in Morristown
59 Spring Street
4:45 to 7:00 pm
Duties include boxing dinners, greeting and handing dinners to guests. Volunteers also help store leftover food and clean up. No experience is needed, everyone is welcome!
Email Karen to sign-up for February 7 at email@example.com


Below is the poem entitled Petals in the wind which was written by poet
simpkins. Please feel free to comment on this poem. However, please remember, PoetrySoup is a place of encouragement and growth.
Read Poems by
Petals in the wind
The beauty of the earth is made from the greatest creator of the universe,
To always thank The Lord,and put him first.
A warming of the sun that touches our soft gentle face,
It's all because God,made this earth an amazing special place.
To thank God ,no matter where or when,
He is always listening,He will always be your faithful friend.
Talk to him everyday,and tell him how much you love and care for him,
The true signs of his love,is the petals in the wind.
The petals of the wind are the true signs of God's amazing love,
To believe in him,the king of heaven,the great one above.
The petals of the wind is letting us know he is always watching us,
To pray to him,He is the one true king,that your heart can honestly trust.


Mary’s greatest joy comes from the knowledge that the all-powerful God delights in her “nothingness”, because he has found in her a human space and disposition where he can make himself at home and work unhampered. In Mary, every human faculty and desire responds with perfect harmony to the desires and expectations of the Creator. This is dynamic sanctity, which overturns every convention and tradition and value-system of human society. After Mary, only those will be called “blessed” who are poor in spirit and courageous enough to allow God to be everything in them. In Mary, God has proved that such a thing is possible, and from now on every child born of woman will be judged by the standard that the very human Mary has set. Mary is said to have been “taken up into heavenly glory”, because she made herself fully malleable in God’s hands; and this being-taken-up by another, this “assumption”, swept up both her body and her soul, because she had held nothing back, because she had offered her whole being to God’s work and transforming activity. From now on, the shape of every human life will either be Marian or it will have failed in fullness of humanity.
God wants the whole of us, body and soul, for himself. He created our whole being and he wants our whole being back for his own delight and for our complete glorification. It is impossible to talk about Mary’s ultimate transformation in glory without, at the same time, talking about the same vocation and destiny for ourselves. Mary’s Assumption opens the way for the glorification, along with her, of every member of the human race. In isolation from us, the mystery of Mary really makes no sense. Can you imagine a church, or a world, in which, out of all human beings, only Mary has been saved? Impossible! No mother can be happy without her children! In the same way that “Christ has been raised from the dead, as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”, so too Mary enters into divine glory right next after Christ, even while human history still continues; but she does so only as a trailblazing anticipation of our own assumption into heavenly life and bliss. First, the Son; then, the Mother; finally, “at his coming, those who belong to Christ”, all those who have come to fullness of life in the divine Son as a result of the earthly Mother’s obedient love; “each one in proper order”, as St. Paul says.
Tintoretto, The Assumption of the Virgin , 1582-97, oil on canvas, Scuola di San Rocco, Venice. Reflection by Father Simeon.


66th Women’s International Convention/Crusade: Prayer & Consecration Service
Presented by the Church of God In Christ Inc. Department of Women. 5-8 p.m. Ambassador Ballroom — third level. $25-$35. Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, 400 Renaissance.cogic.org.
12 Years a Servant: Our Pastor’s Allegiance to Faith & Kingdom Building
Celebrating the Rev. Dr. Steve Bland Jr.’s 12th pastoral anniversary. Speaker: the Rev. W. N. Reed, senior pastor, New Mt. Moriah, Gary, IN. 10 a.m. (continues 7 p.m. Wed.: Speaker: the Rev. Tellis J. Chapman, chairman, Ministers Division National Baptist Convention-USA Inc.). Liberty Temple Baptist Church, 17188 Greenfield, Detroit. (313) 837-6331 or libertytbc.org.
Open Hands Prison Ministry
Sponsors: the Rev. Robert Smith Jr., senior pastor, New Bethel Baptist Missionary Church; and Elder Herbert Singleton, pastor, Bibleway COGIC. Gun Safety Presentation: Officer D. Dorsey. Message: Pastor Maurice Tatnall. 2 p.m. New Bethel Baptist Missionary Church, 8430 C.L. Franklin, Detroit. (313) 894-5788.
66th Women’s International Convention/Crusade
Presented by the Church of God In Christ Inc. Department of Women. 6-9 p.m. (continues 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday). $25-$35. Cobo Convention Center, One Washington, Detroit. cogic.org.
66th Women’s International Convention/Crusade: Pre-Convention Gospel Explosion
Presented by the Church of God In Christ Inc. Department of Women. Featuring Lady Lisa Page Brooks; Shelby 5; Melonie Daniels Walker; Chrystal Rucker; and the Michigan/Ontario Mass Choir. 7 p.m. Adults, $20; children ages 12 and younger, $10. Cobo Conference Exhibition Center — Halls C & D. cogic.org.
We’ve Come This Far By Faith: Fellowship Chapel’s Jubilee Banquet Dinner Dance
50th Church Anniversary. Live music by The 313 Band. Emcee: Fox-2’s Huel Perkins. Keynote speaker: The Honorable Congressman Elijah Cummings. 7 p.m. $150. MGM Grand Detroit, Grand Ballroom, 1777 Third. (313) 347-2820 or FellowshipChapel.org.
Add your event at events.detroitnews.com.


Mbiti, a Kenyan-born Christian religious philosopher and writer, was an ordained Anglican priest, and as of 2005, a canon
GENEVA, Switzerland, October 8, 2019/ — The World Council
of Churches (WCC) fellowship joined family and friends of Prof. John Samuel
Mbiti in giving thanks for his life and grieving his death on 6 October.
Mbiti, a Kenyan-born Christian religious philosopher and writer, was an ordained Anglican priest, and as of 2005, a canon. Mbiti studied in Uganda and the United States, taking his doctorate in 1963 at the University of Cambridge, UK. He taught religion and theology in Makerere University, Uganda from 1964-74. He held visiting professorships at universities across the world and published extensively on philosophy, theology and African oral traditions.
His book, “African Religions and Philosophy,” (1969) was the first work to challenge the assumption that traditional African religious ideas were “demonic and anti-Christian.”
Mbiti was director of the WCC’s Bossey Ecumenical Institute from 1974-80. The Bossey historian Hans-Ruedi Weber wrote that “the Institute’s most creative work during the second half of the 1970s” was a series of conferences on intercultural theology organised by Mbiti. The aim of the series, in Mbiti’s own typically modest words, was “to bring together African, Asian and other theologians for an ecumenical encounter and dialogue.”
The series of conferences was, in fact, impressive. The first, on “African and Asian Contributions to Contemporary Theology” gathered in Bossey more than 80 participants in June 1976. According to Weber, while pioneering for the Africa-Asia dialogue, “the meeting also became an eyeopener for theologians from Europe and the Americas.”
The second turned out to be the well-known one: “Confessing Christ in Different Cultures,” held in Bossey in July of the following year. The colloquium, Mbiti wrote, “brought together the largest gathering of participants ever to convene at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey.” It was attended by 110 people from 35 countries. The third, again ahead of its ecumenical time, focused on “Indigenous Theology and the Universal Church.”
The reason for that series of conferences was simple for Mbiti. “Some of us are aware,” he wrote in 1977, “that there is a rapid tilting of Christianity from the northern region to the southern region,” and he goes as far as to announce in the introduction to the second conference that this tilting “is projected to begin after May 1987.”
As an African scholar called to lead the institute of a global ecumenical body, Mbiti pursued and even anticipated intercultural ecumenicity, equally shared by his friend Rev. Dr Philip Potter, former WCC general secretary. It is not by chance that during the conference on “Confessing Christ in Different Cultures” there were discussions on “how one may reach from a contextual to a universal confession of Christ and how such a confession can find expression in liturgy and worship…”
WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said that Mbiti’s legacy of scholarship and leadership will continue to impact the ecumenical movement.
“He will be celebrated for many things: his scholarship, his sense of justice for indigenous people, and his foresight and analysis of the changes in global communions in which we are now living,” said Tveit. “He brought African theology into global ecumenical theology. His presence at the Arusha mission conference, despite his advanced age, is a testimony to his commitment to ecumenism.”
The WCC will always honour Mbiti as a trail blazer, continued Tveit. “His message in the Anthology of Theology in Africa, published in 2017, also bears testimony to his passion and visionary leadership in African theology,” he said. “He has left us with a rich legacy through his publications. May his work continue to inspire us to research and write theology that is relevant to our lived reality.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf
of World Council of Churches (WCC).SOURCE
World Council of Churches (WCC)


Welcome to the Presbyterian Church of Madison! It’s a safe place to be you and learn more about Jesus Christ. Join us in joyful worship Sundays at 10:15am in the main sanctuary at 19 Green Avenue.
December 8, 2019
Preacher: Scott Foster
By Scott Foster
December 10th, 2019
Every now and then somebody writes something that just slays me, like I wish I’d written...
December 4th, 2019
I had lunch with my friend, Rev. Craig Dunn a couple weeks ago. You...
November 27th, 2019
My phone doesn’t blow up with notifications anymore. I’m actually getting through...


Barnabas Fund is calling on all political parties to make specific commitments to help persecuted Christians in their election manifestos. The manifesto, which is endorsed by both church leaders and peers from across the political spectrum, calls for specific actions by the next government to tackle genocide in the Middle East.
It warns that without specific urgent actions there is a very real danger that that entire Christian communities will have ceased to exist in large parts of the Middle East by the time of the next UK general election in 2022. A pre-release copy of the manifesto, which contains seven specific recommendations to the next UK government, was sent to all political parties a week ago to give them opportunity to respond before their election manifestos are published. In the 2015 UK general election five parties included manifesto commitments related to religious persecution, with two specifically mentioning Christians.


The goal of a classical Christian education is to come alongside parents in providing students with a Biblical foundation for their lives and the tools of learning. With these tools they can potentially master any subject and glorify God with their lives.
Our Curriculum covers the subjects you would typically expect, while the classical model provides a time-tested structure that helps children learn in ways that match the natural development of a child’s mind. Young students spend time absorbing facts in playful ways, laying the foundations for advanced studies. In the middle grades, students learn logic and reasoning. In upper grades, they begin to express themselves persuasively through speaking and writing.
This classical pattern is called the trivium, which is divided into three developmental stages: grammar, logic and rhetoric. As a whole, they form a three-part process for training the mind.
The classical approach to education was originally developed during the Middle Ages and then further refined during the Renaissance. The model has experienced a revival in recent decades among both private schools and homeschooling families. While the classical model can also be applied in a secular setting, it is especially popular with faith-based schools because it is effective in providing a rigorous education within a Christian worldview. Midland Christian School is a member of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, Christian Schools International and the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools.
The classical model provides our framework. Learn more about Our Curriculum.
Our Favorite Links about Classical Christian Education
What is Classical Christian Education? – A summary developed by the Association of Classical Christian Schools.
Classical Conversations – A support network for Classical Christian homeschooling.
Classical Christian Education: The Essential Guide for Parents – An excellent starting point for understanding the classical model in contrast to modern education.
Definitions of Terms Related to Classical Education –A resource developed by the CiRCE Institute (Consulting and Integrated Resources in Classical Education).
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers – A frequently cited essay describing the Trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric that helped spur the modern revival of classical education.
Classical Education Movement on Wikipedia – An independent, crowd-sourced overview.
Why Christian Education? – Jim Drexler of Covenant College explains the misconceptions and necessity of Christian education.


Hello! I am Jake. I am currently pursuing undergraduate studies in Economics and Computer Science. I currently work part time doing software development work in Chattanooga.
I am a Christian. I am a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. With the OPC, I affirm the historic creeds of the Christian faith, such as the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds and the Westminster Standards.
Please note that nothing contained here represents the views of my church, school, employer, or anyone besides me. In fact, they may not even represent my own views insofar as they are written in the past.


Today was a holiday as Guatemalans went to the polls to vote on the situation of the Guatemalan/Belize border dispute. Our school and services were closed.
Jim took a number of teenage girls to a Christian movie.
Would you please pray for the finances at Casa as we need a miracle?
Truthfulness is defined as earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts. The word ‘truth’ is derived from the word ‘trust’. It permits our minds to rest on the integrity and justice of what a person says or does.
Untruthfulness can include “little white lies”, telling a lie to protect someone, exaggerating or telling part of the truth with the intention of deceiving another person.
The opposite of truth is lying, deception, dishonesty, falsehoods and misrepresentations.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Truth is the nature of God and lying is the nature of Satan. John 8:44 says, “There is no truth in him(Satan). When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” We know also that Satan is spoken of as the deceiver in the Word of God.
God requires truthfulness from His followers as we will see.


Why does God sometimes feel distant?
How can a loving God allow evil and suffering in the world? This is a sticking point for many who choose not to believe. Christians, however, choose to believe that God has a purpose in what he plans and in what he allows. There is, however, still tension in our belief and our experience, and it is acutely felt when we encounter difficult pain, or witness the abused or suffering innocent. We ask “why is God distant?”
As Christians, we often talk about how God is near and present. One needs to look no further than the psalms to hear about how God is an ever-present help in times of trouble. The Psalms, however, also mourn about times when God seems absent in our times of suffering (Psalm 88). Even in the New Testament, we feel this tension: Christ telling us that He is leaving to go to the Father, while also promising to be with us until the end.
Join the Calvary Conversations team as they explore a proper understanding of both the nearness and the distance of God?
Visit the Calvary Conversations page to join the conversation, get on our email list and learn more.
Sign up to receive a weekly email notice for the latest episode of Calvary Conversations
Or…join our Facebook Group


PowerClips is an exclusive feature which enables you to convert a selected clip from one of your sermons into an animated video creatively styled with strong, visual elements in bold typography. (Click left for an example).
Great Sermon! Thank you, Pastor Weaver for these messages. Thanks to those who have taken the time to put them online as well. I'm a stay-at-home daughter who has chosen to opt out of the conventional college route during my post-homeschool-graduate years, and as I go about my daily business at home and in town, I enjoy learning all that I can about the Lord, His dealings with His people, human covenantal faithfulness vs. rebellion in history and gain a vision for practical life application and shaping the future in my sphere of influence: the family. I have a heart dream of creating a comprehensive curriculum for my own (Lord willin') future children's home education, and have been in the process of collecting Scripture-centered resources that will lend toward science, history, social studies and Biblical worldview. Your sermons, beyond convicting, have been such a blessing toward shaping my own worldview by Scripture. I've had to relearn much, and the exciting vision that this new education has produced feeds my motivation in giving my children wisdom and knowledge that are founded strictly upon the Word of God and without the confusion of humanism and satanism. Thank you for ministering to my soul and mind. Thank you for changing my family! Indeed, the Lord has used your ministry to lead no
from eastern Virginia
Great message series (1-14) Pastor Weaver, you are such a blessing in your exposition of the Word! What remarkable insight! This series of 14 messages gives excellent insight into what happened then, and what's happening now!
Mrs. Toni Cunningham (4/3/2004)
Outstanding Teaching on Lincoln's War! All of John Weaver's teaching is superb, and this series on the war on the South is one fabulous, comprehensive, revealing history lesson after another. It is so rare nowadays to find preaching that includes covenant theology as it relates to history, economics and politics. And with this powerful type of preaching (not to mention numerous biblical and historical references) Brother Weaver reveals the unitarian and humanistic nature of abolitionism and the real reason for Lincoln's war on the states, demonstrating why our country is governed like it is today. I highly recommend this series for anyone studying this period in history. I just can't say enough great things about it!
Pastor John Weaver is a native of Georgia, and a graduate from Bob Jones University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and attended graduate school. He has been in the Christian ministry over 40 years. During that time, he has pastored, and helped plant several churches...


Jun 13, 2018 @ 08:07
The congregation welcomes everyone to Worship at First United Church. Services are held on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. If anyone has a question or concern please leave a message on the answering machine at the Church 705-856-2926.
Last Sunday, June 10 we joined congregations from Hornepayne & Manitouwadge at St. John’s United Church in Marathon. A special Thank-you to the choir & to Lorna C. who helped serve Communion.
A Mini Thrift Shop will be held beginning Thursday, June 21 at 5:00 p.m.
Watch for our God of the unexpected to surprise you this week with blessings where we thought there were only burdens.
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We are N2Purity, and we look to leave positive messages to encourage the youth choose better decisions and live a pure life. We will send you daily notifications of motivation! You'll also be able to checkout our social media pages, chat with other users, shop, and watch our videos!
See you inside!
Excellent app to inspire the youth!!!!!
Only God Love this app, the message and the movement!


Our mission is to glorify God by loving others to life through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Pastor Eric Lewis Sr.
Pastor Eric W. Lewis Sr. was born in Flint, Michigan in 1959 to Bishop Fred Lewis and Mother Statha Lewis. He accepted the Lord as his personal savior at the age of 16. In 1979, Pastor Lewis married Patricia Ann Shelby. God blessed this union with three beautiful children. Pastor Lewis was ordained as an elder under the leadership of Bishop Fred Lewis. He has worked faithfully with his father and has served in several areas and positions in the church including the deacon board, trustee board, president of the youth department, Co-Chairman of Headquarters District, Jurisdictional Episcopal Adjutant to the Bishop, State Finance Officer of the Southwest 4th Jurisdiction, Director of Men of Valor Seminars, and member of the executive cabinet as administrative assistant to the Bishop.
In January 2005, Bishop Fred Lewis consecrated and installed Pastor Eric Lewis to lead Faith Temple Church of God In Christ. Pastor Lewis' motto has been: “Why choose to lose when there is a way to win?” He is widely known and highly respected as a man of integrity, knowledge, and character. He is an extraordinary preacher, teacher, soloist, praise and worship leader, prayer warrior, counselor and mentor. His compassionate heart for people and great desire to see souls saved has made him a man among men.
FIND YOUR FAITH
If you would like to pray with us and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, please call 789-9045.
Feel free to join us at one of our weekly services!


Freeman, Julia Garland, 96, of Martin; 11 a.m. at Martin Baptist Church; Whitlock Mortuary, Toccoa.
Gailey, Reba, 92, of Maysville; 11 a.m. at Mount Olive Baptist Church; Little-Ward Funeral Home, Commerce.
Hall, Florence Thornton, 84, of Elberton; 3 p.m. at Berry Funeral Home, Elberton.
Hendricks, Elizabeth L., 72, of Kinston, N.C.; 11 a.m. at Pinelawn Memorial Park, Kinston; Edwards Funeral Home, Kinston.
Homyk, Ted Sr., 84, of Eastanollee; 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church; Acree-Davis Funeral Home, Toccoa.
Meyer, Elizabeth Rita, 26, of Augusta; 11 a.m. at St. Marys on the Hill Catholic Church; Poteet Funeral Home, Augusta.
Orso, Cynthia Henry, 28, of Kennesaw; 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church of Marietta; Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home, Marietta.
Presley, W.F. ''Monk,'' 89, of Toccoa; 2 p.m. at Grace Baptist Church; Acree-Davis Funeral Home, Toccoa.
Roberts, Jannie Lee, 62, of Bethlehem; 1 p.m. at Smith Funeral Home, Winder.
Shiflet, Paul F., 23, of Hartwell; 3 p.m. at Sardis Baptist Church; Strickland Funeral Home, Hartwell.
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Twenty-one years ago on September 11, 2001, the world will forever with tremendous sadness four terrorist attacks in which 2,996 or more people died. On that fateful day countless victims died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a plane which crashed in Shanksville, PA headed for Washington DC. For those who lived at that time and remember, it is a day we will never forget.
Countless innocent lives were lost, and heroes came forth as brave souls willing to risk and/or give their lives for those who needed help at that moment. Firefighters, police officers, first responders, and hundreds of other brave souls offered assistance on one of the darkest days in history.
Twenty-plus years later
Over twenty years have passed since 9/11, and when the anniversary stares us in the face once more, we cannot help but be saddened and reflect on the lives lost and the memory of that horrific day. We remember those families and love ones who lost those they held dear and continue to offer our deepest prayers and condolences on the loss of their family members and/or friends.
We also extend continued prayers for those who have suffered great losses since that day on September 11th through chronic health problems, emotional and psychological traumas, and other long term affects. Our deepest prayers go to them to be able to continue life’s journey and to find consolation through the caring support, love, care, and prayers of others.
A prayer of remembrance for lives lost and those affected
We come to you on this anniversary of September 11, 2001, when countless lives were lost and affected forever after terrorist attacks that day.
Lord, we thank you for your consolation to all of us on the losses of that fateful day.
We know Lord that you understand suffering, and you suffer with us.
You understand pain, and you understand what it feels like to witness the tragedies of our world. We know that it pains you even more than it does us to watch humanity suffer due to the affects of sin in our world. You cry with us when the world suffers, and we thank you for your unconditional love as it never ends.
Lord, we pray for the countless men, women, and children who died as a result of that tragic day in history, and we lift our prayers for all of their souls who are now with you. We also lay before you those who died courageously to save others’ lives such as our firefighters, police, and other first responders, and many others.
Lord, please also bless and protect those who continue to struggle with chronic health issues many years later and for their families.
Our entire world needs your love, guidance, and protection, Father. We are grateful for the ways you show us how much you love all your children.
We ask for the intercession of all the angels and saints on this day and always, and we ask this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.


August 22, the Queenship of Mary.
The prayer of the Hail Holy Queen is one of the most beautiful prayers ever composed. It was composed by Blessed Herman Contractus of the 11th century. Considering the author, it is that much more powerful. He had a cleft palate and cerebral palsy. Blessed Herman suffered. He was raised by monks and eventually became one himself, being wheeled out on a cart. I can feel what he must have felt whenever I pray that prayer and other Marian prayers that he composed. Blessed Herman poured out so much in the Salve Regina. It is a prayer of hope*, a loving pleading.
The Queen is so close to us. She makes our life sweet. She brings us LIFE. Our sufferings become more bearable when we know that our Mother is mercifully looking down upon us, her children. She is a symbol of hope and at the same time our hope itself. She intercedes for us with her Son on our behalf. God Most Merciful and Compassionate, has bestowed upon us the great gift of the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he took his place at the right hand of the father. he is with us and within us, most especially in the holy Eucharist. The Lord Jesus also took his mother up into heaven, body and soul, so that she can also be with us as our mother. He, the King of the Universe, crowned her as the Queen of the Same. Our Lady reminds us that God will raise us all from the dead at the last day and will give us all a crown of victory.
She is also my friend.
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and, after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus!
* I like the definition: “confident expectation of fulfillment”
(10th Anniversary of pilgrimage to Lourdes)


For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. -Matthew 12:34 KJV
Everyone has found themselves in the position of saying something hurtful and wanting to take it back even before it’s left your mouth, but you can’t seem to stop yourself.
Proverbs says life and death is in the power of tongue. Those are powerful words. Is your conversation bringing destruction, or causing harm to yourself or even to those whom you love the most? James warns that no man can tame the tongue. That almost sounds hopeless. The truth is that it’s not a tongue problem at all-it’s a heart problem. If your heart is angry, angry words will spew from your mouth. If your heart has ugly feelings, those will come out, too.
Though you cannot bridle your tongue, yield your words to the Holy Spirit and watch what happens. When you received Jesus Christ into your heart and allowed the Holy Spirit to take up residence there, your heart was changed, cleansed from the inside out. When Christ enters your heart, the Holy Spirit immediately begins producing fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).
Check your heart before you open your mouth today to see who’s in control.
Thank God for the changed heart and new words He gives you when you turn to Him.
Ask Him to help you look to Him before you speak, and for His words and heart to flow from your spirit.


60th: Norman, Mary Jane Haessly
Norman E. “Jack” Haessly Jr. and Mary Jane (Decker) Haessly will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Aug. 31. They were married on Aug. 31, 1957 at Second Congregational Church on Ohio 26 by the Rev. Amanda Miller.
They have two sons, Mark (Julie) and Steven (Becki); five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Jack is the president of Haessly Hardwood Lumber Co., Mary has been the proud and supportive person to her dear family.
A family dinner of celebration is being planned. Cards (only) would be greatly appreciated; please mail to: 389 Sheets Run Road, Marietta, Ohio, 45750.


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The Pope's Prayer Intentions for September: Parishes
Pope Francis' Prayer Intentions for the month of September are for our Parishes:
"That our parishes animated by a missionary spirit may be places where faith is communicated and charity is seen."
This month in our prayer for our parishes we are reminded that we are called to not only communicate our faith through our the Word but also through our actions. Let our prayers be that our parishes not only open their doors for a place of prayer but to go out and meet the people where they are and to act in charity and love.


Sunday services for us are a celebration! A celebration of all that is invincible in the human spirit and worthy of our praise and gratitude.
Since March 2020, all of our Sunday services have moved online. We gather at 10:30AM for a 30-45 minutes of music, prayer, and message. A Q&A and/or community dialog often follows the live service.
For Zoom links to upcoming services, just click on the date in our calendar.
You can also participate via Facebook Live.