Seventy Times Seven! by Gene McGuire Friday, July 4, 2008

“Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers. . .” (Genesis 37:5)

COMMENT: Well folks, I am sorry if I have misled you; from the Lead Scripture you probably thought that I was going to discuss Joseph and his dreams. However, I just used that verse as a lead-in to tell you about an interesting and perplexing dream I had the other night.

All I remember was the following phrase: “What three things did Peter say?” My first thought was: “Peter was so talkative; his mouth was always open and that often led to his chagrin.(John 13:37) How can I pick out three statements out of all of that verbiage?”. Then the thought came to me . . . .”What were the three most important things that Peter said?” Now you may disagree with me, but here is my list in the order of importance. #1 “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)  #2 – And he (Peter) said to Him (Jesus) “Lord You know all things; You know that I love You.” (John 21:17b) #3 – “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’ “(Matthew 18:21,22)

Please let me know if your TOP THREE are different from mine.

SCRIPTURE STUDY: Matthew 6:12, Ephesians 5:23 and 1 John 4:19

WISE SAYING: PETER SAID SOME THINGS THAT CAUSED HIM PAIN, BUT IN THE END IT ALL WAS GAIN. (gene mcguire)

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Conquering! by Gene McGuire Thursday, July 3, 2008

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

COMMENT: A few years I had a phone conversation with a friend and I mentioned that my garbage disposal was broken and had been that way for a couple of years. He told me about a restart button of the side of the the disposal that I should investigate. I pushed the button and PRESTO, it started to work! I had a big laugh at my ignorance; I didn’t know how to turn on the power. But it is no laughing matter when we Christians neglect the power of God that is available to us.

Today’s Lead Scripture tells us that, through Christ, we are more than conquerors. Well, why is it that many of us are living defeated lives? I’ll answer my own question! Some lack the faith to believe what God says about who they are in Him. They allow circumstances, feelings and opinions of others to have the final say-so in their lives. Let’s get into the Word, find out who we are in Christ, and write it down, put it in your eyes, put it in your ears, put it in your heart and let it come out of your mouth.

You do know that faith comes by hearing the Word of God?

SCRIPTURE STUDY:2 Cor.1:20, Galatians 3:16 and Hebrews 6:12

WISE SAYING: CIRCUMSTANCES MERELY PROVIDE YOU WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVEAL THE EXTENT OF YOUR FAITH IN THE PROMISES OF GOD.

Just a thought, not a sermon.

Skipping Church by Gene McGuire (Wednesday, July 2, 2008)

“…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)

COMMENT: I know that there are some people who are reading this message who consider themselves to be Christians but are not abiding by our Lead Scripture. How can I be so sure? Well, I know that there are members of my own family who are currently in that group.This message is not meant to castigate them, but to inform them as to what the Lord’s will is regarding church attendance. Rick Warren in his bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, says it so succinctly :

“WHY YOU NEED A CHURCH FAMILY: A church family identifies you as a genuine believer. I can’t claim to be following Christ if I’m not committed to any specific group of disciples. Jesus said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35 ) When we come together in love as a church family from different backgrounds, race, and social status, it is a powerful witness to the world. (Gal. 3:28) You are not the Body of Christ on your own. You need others to express that. Together, not separated, we are His Body. (1 Cor. 12:27)”

God’s Satisfaction by Gene McGuire (Tuesday, July 1, 2008)

“And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:18)

COMMENT: Yes, you are right! Since our Lead Scripture is in Genesis 1, this must be Creation! And since God is perfect, that which He created was perfect also. I imagine He was expressing the same kind of self-satisfaction an artist might have looking at a competed work  Well, I am not an artist, and I don’t play one on TV either ; my wife, Rose-Marie, is the artist in the family. However, occasionally I get the same feeling of satisfaction that an artist gets after he looks at his finished product.

After laboring to cut the grass on my lawn, I stand back and survey my accomplishment and really feel good.

Likewise, I am sure that God is really pleased when He looks down on us, His creations, and sees us practicing righteousness.(1 John 3:7) He knows that we are only dust and will not be perfected until we meet Jesus face to face; but when He perceives that we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling, I am sure it puts a smile on His face.

SCRIPTURE STUDY:Galatians 5:16, Phil 2:12 and 1 John 3:7

WISE SAYING: I’M THE CLAY, YOU’RE THE POTTER — CHANGE ME NOW MY LOVING FATHER. (gene mcguire)

Unpleasant… by Gene McGuire (Monday, June 30, 2008)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

COMMENT: I like to find out what is going on in the world early in the day, therefore I often listen to a local “all news” radio station. However, on weekend mornings I have had a real problem with the commentator. I was irritated by his pronunciation; he tends to elongate the last letter of certain words. Here is an example: “You are listening to WTOP Radio-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. I thought about calling the station to make a complaint about his unpleasant sounds. After a few weeks, I came to my senses; I could either accept his verbiage as is or tune into another station. That revelation put me in mind of the relationships that you and I ought to have with each other as Christians. Unconditional love is vital for believers. In fact, 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us that when we compare faith, hope and love, the greatest of these three is love. There are some people who are easy to love and then there are the unlovely. We cannot pick and choose those we will love. If we are going to be good disciples of Christ we have to love them, flaws and all. Now let’s get down to the “nitty gritty”. We all have character blemishes and idiosyncrasies and if we could read minds, we would be surprised how often we irritate some of our brethren. Sometimes we have been made aware of how we aggravate others. For instance, I’ve been told that when I receive a phone call, I don’t give the callers a chance to tell me the reason they are calling; instead I immediately launch right into a diatribe. Since none of us are perfect, let’s learn to love our imperfect brethren.

SCRIPTURE STUDY: John 13:34, 15:12 and 1 John 3:11

WISE SAYING: FAITH IS LOVING GOD AND LOVING ALL THAT HE LOVES.