As You Go...Watch and Pray

I received news yesterday that someone I attended college with took his own life. I saw him a short time ago in a store in Birmingham and we talked and exchanged some pleasantries. But I went no further than that.

Now I wonder, did I miss something? Should I have been more attentive not just to his words but to facial expressions, etc?

We see people everyday, we talk with them but we have our own agendas and our own lists of thing-to-do so we hurry along.

On the other side we let small things and even large things separate us from friends and even family members that really, we love.

Why not, today and everyday, look into the eyes of those you see and pray for them, and love them with the love of Jesus?

The next time you come up on someone you know, slow down and listen. You never know what another person is experiencing right then.

Gripped by Grace,
Hal

Thinking about the Beatitudes

I have spent the previous weeks preaching from the Beatitudes.

These have been very meaningful to me in my personal walk with the Lord. I have expressed to the congregation at Calera Baptist that the testings and Satanic attacks have been very strong during this series of messages.

I will finish the series this Sunday with Jesus' word's on persecution. These words are convicting and very sobering as we consider whether we have seen persecution, yet the apostle Paul says, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted."
2 Tim. 3:12.

I must ask myself the question, "Am I truly living a godly life? Or do I even desire to live a godly life?" Yet, at the same time I am not suffering persecution.


I read the following on the Beatitudes written by J.C. Ryle in 1856. His words are convicting:

"Let us learn how entirely contrary are the principles of Christ to the principles of the world. It is vain to deny it. They are almost diametrically opposed. The very characters which the Lord Jesus praises, the world despises. The very pride, and thoughtlessness, and high tempers, and worldliness, and selfishness, and formality, and unlovingness, which abound everywhere, the Lord Jesus condemns.

Let us learn how unhappily different is the teaching of Christ from the practice of many professing Christians. Where shall we find men and women among those who go to churches and chapels, who are striving to live up to the pattern we have read of today? Alas! there is much reason to fear, that many baptized people are utterly ignorant of what the New Testament contains.

Above all let us learn how holy and spiritual-minded all believers should be. They should never aim at any standard lower than that of the sermon on the mount. Christianity is eminently a practical religion. Sound doctrine is its root and foundation, but holy living should always be its fruit. And if we would know what holy living is, let us often bethink ourselves who they are that Jesus calls 'blessed.' "

Gripped by Grace,
Hal

Agreeing in Prayer

It is a wonderful thing to see our church family grow in our prayer life together. I have watched the last two weeks as we have gathered around "family members" and prayed for them. The love we see at those times is amazing and heart touching.

I said Sunday we are going to make this something that Calera Baptist is known for. It will not be the exception but the norm.

People are hurting and need our prayers. Most of the things that bother us are minor by comparison to the hurts and pains that some are suffering. So when an annoyance comes - measure it by what you know some of our brothers and sisters are experiencing and let then it pass.


Let's follow scripture and "Bear one another's burdens," and not let the small stuff get our eyes off of each other or the Lord.

Gripped by Grace,
Hal

Stopping by the Church - on a Snowy Morning

Inspite of snow on the ground - many met today at CBC to study the scriptures and worship the Lord. And, O, what a special time it was.

The time of music blessed my heart and took us to the cross, where we should be always. (Thank you Bro. Sam, Praise Team and Praise Band and also Shannon Vines).

Seeing the family of the Lord come around Michelle Clarke, Hilda LeSeuer and Mary Bishop to pray for a work of the Lord in their bodies was a close loving time when the family functioned as it should.

To see some of our young men and youth and children throw snowballs, like a family playing, was refreshing also.

The snow was a reminder of much that we see in the Word:

Job 37:6 "For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the
earth, likewise to the downpour, his mighty
downpour."

Psalms 51:7 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool."

Daniel 7:9 [ The Ancient of Days Reigns ] "As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire."

Matthew 28:3 "His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow."

Revelation 1:13-15 "and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters."

These are only a few.

Did you know snow was in the scriptures this much?

Praise the Lord for the pictures he gives us of Himself and His work in our world around us daily.

Gripped by Grace,
Hal