His Mysterious Presence

Scripture

“For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there among them.”

~Matthew 18:20, NRSV

Quote

Only in the act of praise and worship can a person learn to believe in the goodness and greatness of God.

~C.S. Lewis

Have you ever been so tired or maybe you just did not feel like going to church but you conscience would not allow you to have peace so you went anyway, even though you felt bad. Then you get among other believers who are praising Jesus and you begin to feel better. Sometimes we need help getting our mind off of ourselves and our problems and corporate worship helps us to get the focus on Christ and others. There are many reason why we need to be faithful in worship attendance and one of them is encouragement. The writer of Hebrews said, Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” We come together to motivate and encourage each other and when we do, the LORD meets with us.

An alcoholic got saved and became a instant witness for Jesus. He was bold as a lion but over time, he got discouraged with church folks because they never witness. He was telling everyone about Jesus but he couldn’t get anyone to help him. He got discouraged and began missing worship. When other encouraged him to come back, he said, “Why, so I can be like you, full of Jesus on Sunday and empty on Monday.” He dropped out of church and became very self-righteous. He never ceased to claim Jesus as Lord and Savior but simply said, “I don’t the church.” He was wrong. In a year or two, he stopped witnessing and his faith grew cold. He was harder to visit as a bitter backslidden Baptist than he was as a lost alcoholic. Some years later he repented and got back in church but his evangelistic zeal was never the same.

Dwight L. Moody was visiting such a man. He told Moody, “I am a believer but I don’t need church.” They were sitting in front of an open fire place and so Moody took the poker and reached into the embers and brought out on red hot coal. In a few seconds, the glowing ember turned black with no glow at all. Then Moody took the poker and pushed the ember back into the bed of colds and almost instantly, it began to glow. The man told Moody, I get the point. I will be at church this Sunday. We all need the encouragement of others.


Wow! What a terrific VBS. I can’t remember who it was but another kid said yesterday. “This is the best day of my life.” I want to thank Keith Blackwood for allowing us to use his 670 John Deere. Every year I say I will owe a UTV to pull the kids and every year I fail to get one. I was tempted {Briefly} to go get one for VBS but I knew I could not afford it so I began thinking about those who have UTV’s. I knew I could use Kelvins and I thought about Keiths but the kids would be begging to ride with me instead of in the trailer and then I thought of Bee’s John Deere which she gave to Keith before she departed this world. What a mother in law! I never dreamed that the kids would love it so but they were crazy about the tractor rides. Keith is a generous man. I hate borrowing but if I have to borrow, I want it to be Keith.

The weather this week for VBS was great: Thank You Jesus!

Below is a pic of Senior Adults who worked in VBS…Big Mama, Sheila Jo, Dian, Granny T., Carolyn, Peggy Sue, Marie, Nayola, Gerri, Jean and Charlene. Taken with my phone and it is a poor camera.

Seniors who worked in VBS

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