8/1/2020

I just read an article by Aaron Earls ( The Small Change That Can Radically Improve Your Church Experience ) and it makes excellent sense. In the many years that I have been going to church, I have arrived at church many different times. While growing up, it was (to the best of my memory) five to ten minutes. While my husband was pastoring we tried to be there forty-five to sixty minutes early. Then health issues came up and I found myself going by myself and I hate to admit it, I showed us late about as often as I did early. In addition, looking back, as this article caused me to do; I found it made a lot of sense. It did leave one major thing out, as far as my personality is concerned.

For some who know me, they see a quiet reserved woman. Others see me as a friendly, busy, eager to meet you person. The real me is a mixture of both as with most people. In churches where I am new and know no one, I revert to someone who wants to remain invisible. If you are this type of person, it matters not how early or how late you stay. You still will have an experience that might cause you to walk away from your Spiritual Table, hungry for a spiritual meal.

No matter what your personality is, I have found that the best way to have a great experience from going to church is; pray for the church service on your way to church. This way you are in the mindset of talking to God and then when you get there, even visiting with the people you meet God is helping you. Sometimes by showing you things to pray for concerning the people you greeted. Then other times it gives you the wisdom to know who to greet so they may pray for your needs.

C.I. Wilson

If you would like to read this article you may do so at: https://factsandtrends.net/2018/07/18/the-small-change-that-can-radically-improve-your-church-experience/?ecid=PDM220468&bid=1501256317

05/2/2020

As I was growing up my parents, teachers, pastors told me in so many ways to always watch what I say. Did I do it? Not all the times, however, I did learn and I do not do it as much as I did as a child.

When we talk without watching what we say we do one of several things:

1. Show our ignorance
2. Say things that are not true
3. Make people mad
4. Hurt people’s feelings
5. And on rare occasions speak the truth

However, after not watching what we say, most of the time we do end up needing to make an apology. The sad fact is most humans do not apologize as often as we need to.

This topic was brought home to me by, of all people, Pope Francis. Yes, the man who is supposed to be leading the Worlds Catholic People to God has shown he is just as mortal and apt to make mistakes as the rest of humanity. During a speech on Earth Day 2020, he made several statements that Carmine Sabia, The Western Journal reporter, points out in the attached article. This article was brought to my attention by The End Times newsletter I receive.

Please take the time to read the article and ask God what He wants you to do concerning how you treat the Earth in the future. See link below.

C.I. Wilson

https://www.wnd.com/2020/04/pope-issues-disturbing-new-age-pronouncements-earth-day-address/

3/3/2020

⁵  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
⁶  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
⁷  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
⁸  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 8:5-8 (KJV)

Several things come to my mind straight off:

1. It states “A sower” not a beginner, not an older – just “a sower”
2. It states “some fell”
3. It states “as he sowed”

We must become the sower if we want to serve the Lord. We cannot keep it to ourselves. We must sow even if not all of it bears fruit. Not everyone will heed the Word of God. Not everyone will turn it aside. Some will heed the Word of God, however, never become established.

We must not let the idea grow in our head that all of our seed must bear good results. We must become the sower, the one who does God’s work here on the earth.

C.I. Wilson

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Sister Caroline Smith has submitted her church's newsletter to be published. Hope you enjoy it.

She is currently going the the Sterling Full Gospel Church in Independence, Missouri.

12/29/2019

Matthew 4:1-11 (KJV)
¹  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
²  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
³  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
⁴  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
⁵  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
⁶  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
⁷  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
⁸  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
⁹  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
¹⁰  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
¹¹  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

(I bold typed the devil quoting scripture.)

While doing my Bible Reading in Matthew, I ran across some many times read scriptures and I know you have read them many times and mayhap have even preached on them. Jesus being tempted of the devil.

Jesus was led by the Spirit – to be tempted of the devil. To me this means that sometimes we get in a hard place spiritually because we did not follow the leading of God. However, it also shows that we sometimes get in that hard place because of the leading of God. We have things that we need to learn, spiritually. We learn them because they are needed in our walk with God down the road of life to either:

¹ To make it over some future hurdle,

² To be able to help someone in their journey,

³ To show the devil we are stronger in our faith,

⁴ To be a witness of our faith to those watching our lives.

We do not know why we face these temptations here on earth. We do know that it helps to be knowledgeable about the Bible, because the devil does not like it when we quote God’s Word to him. However, we need to be aware that the devil will quote the scriptures to try to lead us astray. Matthew 4:6 shows us that the devil even used scriptures to Jesus just before tempting Him again. Notice that Jesus turned around and quoted the written Word of God right back.

Let me state that this is a prime example of why we need to learn God’s Word. Why we need it in our mind. Why we need to live what the Bible states and not what some preachers says or our parents said or our friends say is in the Bible. We need to follow the example that Jesus set for us in this portion of the Bible.

C.I. Wilson