Went to the Christmas parade and originally, we were going to be sharing the Gospel outside a shop that our church owns. The problem was that it did not have much foot traffic. So, Cruise, who also shared the Gospel with me, went to the middle of town where a gala was happening and asked if we could share the Gospel there. The organiser said yes, and we did not have to pay since Christmas is about Jesus. Awesome. We were able to tell many the Gospel.

When Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he has loved us, he wasn’t speaking of human love based in our emotions, but he was speaking of divine love, which is centered in moral preference. For the believer in Jesus Christ this means to prefer to live through Christ, embracing God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them through his power. For the word means to prefer what God prefers, which is what is holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord (1).

So, when we love one another with this kind of love, it is going to engage us living through Christ, embracing God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them through his power. So we will not lie to people just to make them feel good. We will not dilute and alter the truth or cut the truth short in order to not offend people. And we won’t immerse ourselves in our culture just so we can connect with the people of the world and so that they will like us. For we need to stand firm on the truth of God’s word always.

But we should be kind, but kind is not lying to people. It is not compromising truth and righteousness and holiness just so they will think we are being kind. The kindest thing we can do is to tell people the truth that will save their souls from hell and which will give them life everlasting with God if they will choose to be believing in Christ, forsaking their sins, and following him in obedience to his commands, which is all part of God-persuaded faith in our Lord which we must all have if we want eternal life with God.

For how did Jesus love us, and how does he continue to love us? Well, he came to the earth, took on human form, suffered as we suffer and was tempted as we are tempted, but without sin. And then he suffered a horrible death on a cross so that in his death he might put our sins to death so that, by faith in him, we might now die with him to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And he empowers us to do so, too!

If we are going to love one another as Christ loved us, we are going to care about one another’s spiritual condition. And this was exemplified to us in the writings of the NT apostles, for this is mostly what they wrote about. So we are going to be sharing with others the truth of the gospel which Jesus and his NT apostles taught, not the lies being spread today. And we are going to be exhorting and encouraging one another so that we don’t buy into the lies, and so we walk according to the truth, and so we have eternal life.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

So, what is the truth of the gospel we should be sharing? Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For when Jesus took up his cross it was to put our sins to death with him so that we would now walk free from slavery to sin. But if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. Yet if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, we have eternal life (Luke 9:23-26).

Jesus also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. For many will stand before him on the day of judgment claiming him as Lord and claiming all the things they believed they did in his name, and he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” for they would not obey the Lord (Mattew 7:21-23). So, we need to take this to heart, for not everyone professing faith goes to heaven.

And when we speak the truth in love to one another, that is laying down our lives for others. For not too many people are speaking the truth these days. And so many are speaking against the truth and they are convincing people by the masses to also reject the truth of the gospel and of the word of God, and to embrace the lies of false teachers who are saying to people what makes them feel good in order to tickle their itching ears. So if you are one who speaks the truth, you are likely to be largely rejected.

And the truth is that we are not saved from our sins just so we can escape hell and so we can go to heaven when we die. Jesus died to deliver us out of our slavery (addiction) to sin so we will now walk in obedience to his commands in holy living, walking in moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness. And this is what it means to bear fruit for the kingdom of heaven. It means that we are walking the walk and not just talking it and we are living the kind of lives God in his word has called us to live for his praise and glory.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Come, Thou Fount

By Robert Robinson / John Wyeth

Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount – I’m fixed upon it –
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Hitherto Thy love has blessed me
Thou has brought me to this place
And I know Thy hand will bring me
Safely home by Thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

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(1) Strong's Greek: 25. ἀγαπάω (agapaó) -- to love

6 April 2023

Gun Deaths among US Children and Teens Rose 50% in Two Years

This is a summary of a Pew Research Centre article, dated April 2023, based on child gun mortality data from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Gun deaths includes homicides, suicides and accidental death directly attributed to firearms. 'Child' refers to 17 and under.

• In 2019, 1,732 US children and teens under 18 were killed by gun. In 2021 this increased to 2,590
• This means the death rate (deaths per 100,000) rose 46% from 2.4 in 2019 to 3.5 in 2021
• The 2021 number and rate are the highest since 1999 when child data first became available. 2021 was also a record year for gun deaths among Americans of all ages and a 23% increase on 2019
• 32% of child gun deaths were suicides while 60% were homicide. This compares to 55% suicide and 42% homicide for 18+ adults
• 5% of child deaths were accidental
• In 2020 there were an estimated, record 11,000+ child (under 18) emergency room visits for gunshot wounds
• Boys accounted for 83% of 2021 child gun deaths
• 86% of gun deaths were aged 12 to 17; 7% were 6 to 11 and another 7% were aged 5 and under
• 36% of 12 to 17 y.o. deaths were suicide while 34% of 12 and under deaths were accidental
• 46% of all child gun deaths were Black children; 32% White children; 17% Hispanic; and 1% Asian
• In 2021 84% of deaths involving Black children were homicides while 9% were suicide
• For White children, 66% were suicide and 24% homicide

The article also covers parental concerns by ethnicity, income, urban/rural residence and political persuasion.
Gun deaths among U.S. kids rose 50% from 2019 to 2021 | Pew Research Center

OB

Are you apostate when you, unlike the vast majority of your fellow religionists, do not want to see a conservative supreme court, vote for the conservative party in your country, and want to see refugees treated with dignity, the poor fed and housed, the sick cared for without risking bankruptcy? Is the gospel as a lived experience to be shunned as communist? How do you want to see your nation deal with biblical teachings such as these:

• There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you." (Exodus 12:49 ESV)
• "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:21 ESV)
• "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9 ESV)
• You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:34 ESV)
• And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." (Luke 10:25-28 ESV)

Sometimes I just feel like I want to scream, but I don't think I have the energy to do that. I think something's wrong, I just don't know what. I know faith isn't based off of feelings, but gosh, I haven't been feeling on fire for God in months. I'm trying to read the bible and pray, but everything I do in that area of my life feels unenthusiastic. I don't even know if I'm really trying my hardest, because I just feel so out of love with living a faithful life, and disconnected from God and myself. I'm trying to get more involved in my church by helping out in the youth worship band, and that's the best part of my week, but I worry it's not for the right reasons. Maybe I just like it because its fun, and not because it's for the glory of God. I don't even know if I pray, or if I'm just worrying and calling it prayer. I know it's by no fault of God, but by my own fault. I just can't help but feel so burnt out. I think things that I know are bad, and I apologize to God for it, but its just overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. Just kinda needed to vent, idk. But is there anything I can do to get out of this rut, and fall in love with God again?

A middle school principal in Kentucky adopted a girl who was acting out after she had spent her whole life in and out of foster homes. Sent to his office after being suspended, he realized that she just needed, perhaps one time, for “something to go in her favor.”

Kentucky school principal Jason Smith walked out of his office one day and saw a girl from the 6th grade sitting on a chair by the door—suspended for throwing a cup of yogurt during lunch.

One can only imagine how much delinquency and mischief Smith had seen throughout his 14 years in charge of the school, but something about the girl struck him that day. Asking whether she thought such behavior was acceptable at a restaurant, Raven Whitaker replied she had never been to one.

Where she had been was in and out of foster homes for most of her life, where foster moms and dads had made plenty of promises they were unable to keep.

“At that point, I had felt like she just needed a hand, needed help,” Smith told Good Morning America. “I recognized that she needed something to go in her favor, maybe for once, that it hadn’t gone in her favor in the past, but she just needed somebody to help her.”

Continued below.

I believe that this article is interesting and informative. What do y'all think about their stated stands on those foreign policy issues?

Every so often I come across a pair of songs with the same title that clearly are not related. Here is one such pair. I can think of a few more. Wondering if others can come up with some I have not yet run into.

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Login to view embedded media Pearl Jam did a cover of this song.

A devastating fire sparked fears that California’s redwoods would never recover, but these old timers had a trick up their trunks, and utilized deep stores of energy in their roots to sprout new growth weeks after they were charred.

The story begins after lightning sparked a fire in California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park during the early years of the recent drought. Scientists were worried about the ancient trees, but also knew that they evolved to deal with fire over millions of years.
Nevermind their thick shaggy bark which acts like a fireman’s coat—the fire blazed right up to their crowns, torching every needle along the way, and frightening scientists into thinking they would never recover.


“It was shocking,” Drew Peltier, a tree ecophysiologist at Northern Arizona University, told Science Magazine. “It really seemed like most of the trees were going to die.”

Though thin, the pine needles of a redwood contain all the necessary equipment for photosynthesis, and when the fire burned them all, it was unclear how the tree would create energy for itself, but a new paper published by Peltier and his colleagues shows that new buds had been lying dormant for a long time under the bark of these trees, and sugars produced from photosynthesis decades ago were used to power these buds out into the sunlight.

Continued below.

What is your view on witchcraft? Is it a real thing from a Christian viewpoint?
How should Christians respond to witches? Ignore, evangelise, burn, etc?

Back in the 80s, when I attended a Presbyterian school, I understood the Bible doesn't change but the Christian interpretation of it does. For example it was once widely understood from the Book of Genesis that the world was created about 6000 years ago. I thought that modern Christians see these events as allegory rather literal truth. Emphasis was on the moral of the story rather than the story itself.

Nowadays it seems the pendulum has swung back towards the literal interpretation - or maybe my church was a very watered-down very form of Christianity. Your thoughts?

We have broke the record of the number of mass shootings from the high of last year.

Something to cheer about? Not really. It may be time to look at our gun culture and guns in our culture and work on a new way.

The Las Vegas Police Department is currently investigating reports of an active shooting incident at UNLV.

Reports began coming in at around noon on Wednesday after university police said they responded to shots fired in the BEH building. Additional shots were later reported in the Student Union.

Police later confirmed that they were responding to the school, where there appeared to be multiple victims.

Good day, I'm asking for prayer for the salvation of Hindu Youth Organization, ISKCON South Centre, ISKCON Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga Mandir, ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, Kabir Chowra Math, Kailash Hindu Mandir, Kailash Mandir, Kasheenath Mandir, Krishna Rama Mandir, Lachoos Road Shiv Mandir, La Gloria Radha Krishna Mandir, Lakshmi Narayan Bhakti Mandali, Lakshmi Narayan Mandir and Lakshmi Narayana Pranava Mandir. I'm asking for salvation prayer for them and their families.

Hi all. I home school my kids and we started a small farm this year. The kids and the animals are such blessings to me. God has been guiding me through very dark times lately.

I have a friend who is severely demonically afflicted. I love him dearly, but he hurts my feelings and has a ton of unaddressed trauma. I need the Lord's guidance on how to keep healthy spiritual/emotional (and physical) distance while ministering to him through his healing and deliverance.

My youngest child has very special needs and many health complications: GI issues, dental issues, developmental of course etc. I am asking for prayer for her life. This time of year, she has had emergency medical services come out for her the last two years. I am praying for God to be my rock and my guiding light through these times.

My older children need prayer too. They are in the tween and teen phase and going through things. We are quite isolated and have no family nearby and no helpful family friends. My older daughter has major attitude explosions. My son eggs her on constantly. But they also work hard around the house and care a lot for the animals, especially my son.

The kids go to their dad's every weekend which is a long trip across a wintry mountainous landscape. My ex-husband has many issues. Please pray for the kids' safety and wellbeing there, and for any issues to come to the light! My youngest child is non-verbal too...

I have health issues, childhood+ trauma of my own to work through, and suffered an extremely traumatic event recently that has left me in the grips of panic.

Please pray for us all as a family. Thank you brethren.

I know parks are a good area but where else ?

Hi all, guess I'll post this here, feel free to redirect if not in the right place...

So, if anyone on here knows my story, I was really "on it" with God in the beginning of my walk, but ended up making some mistakes thinking I was doing what He was asking of me when He wasn't and ended up derailing my walk with Him in a way that lead to me being away from Him for the past 8 years...

In that time, I've had several loved ones die, and I feel SO guilty for not being the witness to them that I felt I should have been and even worry that I cost them their salvation by doing so....I feel so discouraged and heartbroken at the thought of this, feel like God is going to judge me if they didn't make it and am just in so much pain over it all that I don't even want to live anymore...how do I deal with this?

Norman Lear, who revolutionized prime-time TV with ‘All in the Family,’ dies​

Norman Lear, the multiple Emmy-Award-winning writer-producer and liberal political activist who revolutionized prime-time television in the 1970s with groundbreaking, socially relevant situation comedies such as “All in the Family,” “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” has died. He was 101.

In the mid-1970s, it was estimated that some 120 million Americans — more than half the nation’s population at the time— watched the various sitcoms produced by Lear and Bud Yorkin, his longtime partner in Tandem Productions. Indeed, Lear and Yorkin had five of the top 10 programs in the Nielsen ratings for the 1974-75 TV season.

The taping of the 1968 pilot [of All in the Family] generated big laughs from the live studio audience, but ABC passed on it ... deciding that the show’s potentially offensive language and content would be inappropriate in a country already in turmoil over the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, racism, Watergate and the emerging feminist movement.

CBS seized the moment.

The debut episode featured Archie in all his glory as he used racial epithets never before heard on network TV. The loud and malapropism-prone Archie also touched on subjects such as atheism, the virtues of premarital celibacy, the breakdown of law and order, long hair on boys and short skirts on girls.

At one point, Archie launched into a heated argument with his son-in-law Mike over whether Black people had been denied their share of the American dream.

Mike: Now I suppose you’re going to tell me that the Black man has had the same opportunity in this country as you.

Archie: More — he’s had more! I didn’t have no million people out there marching and protesting to get me my job.

Edith: No, his uncle got it for him.

For five consecutive seasons — from October 1971 to April 1976 — “All in the Family” was the No. 1-rated program. In all, the show would earn four Emmys for outstanding comedy series, and Lear would win a 1977 Peabody Award “for giving us comedy with a social conscience.”

Along with his reputation as a prolific television producer, Lear earned praise and condemnation as a TV trailblazer whose sitcoms toppled taboos in their treatment of then-controversial topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and infidelity.

The energetic producer was profiled on “60 Minutes” and invited to host “Saturday Night Live.” He also was named on President Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List.”

Lear [had also] incurred the wrath of the religious right, which characterized him as a corrupter of American decency for injecting LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and other controversial topics into his comedy shows. The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the late leader of the Moral Majority, called Lear “the No. 1 enemy of the American family.”

In 1981, Lear and others founded People for the American Way, a nonprofit organization formed, according to Lear’s website, “to speak out for Bill of Rights guarantees and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms.”

After Lear and his wife paid $8.1 million for a rare original copy of the Declaration of Independence in 2000, Lear launched what he called the “biggest production of my life”: a nationwide tour of the historical document, from 2001 until the presidential election of 2004.

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I have predominantly been a liberal most of my adult life. I have watched Conservatives talk about Jewish Space Lasers and pedophile pizza parlors. It was never hard not to vote for them.

Then I watch young liberals at colleges in support of Hamas, and saying Osama Bin Ladin was not a bad guy. And here we have three predominantly liberal colleges and there leaders are basically asked is Jewish genocide bad an not one could give a strait answer.

If this is what liberalism has come to...I will be voting for trump, and I think trump is one of the most worthless pieces of trash on the planet but at least I know he is against terrorism.

Is it just me or has there been as drop in the Articles that gave specific counter arguments to specific attack add against Trump for example

FACT CHECK: No, Trump Did Not Tell People To ‘Inject Themselves With Disinfectant’ Or ‘Drink Bleach’

I think the drop in the articles has caused a drop in posts from the MAGA crowd

When it comes to tithing which will invoke God's wrath more?

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

Hi everyone, another prayer target- we need to pray for Messiah University! Messiah University is a Christian college near Harrisburg, PA, however it has some problems, it is basically Christian in name only, publicly all of the students are good Christians but behind closed doors they are partying and doing drugs. There is a drug problem on campus and there is also something wrong there spiritually, there is an evil presence on campus, you can feel it. We need to pray for that to go right now!

Lord God we agree right now for Your intervention on the campus of Messiah University and for the salvation of any student or employee there that does not know You, we also pray that any student or employee that needs a healing would receive a healing touch from You, that any student or employee that needs a healing would receive their healing! We pray for wisdom for the leadership at the school and that You would show them what to do and that their decisions would be pleasing to You and that the school would be pleasing to You. We also pray for Your hand of blessing to be upon the professors at the school and that You would give them the wisdom and right words to say to impart their knowledge to the students and for Your presence to be in each classroom while the classes are in session and for Your anointing to fall upon the students as they graduate and in their fields of study. We pray for a complete end to all drug and alcohol activity on the campus and for an end to partying! We also pray for any evil presence on campus to go right now, we take authority over any evil presence on the campus right now and we command it to go right now in the name of Jesus! We pray for the evil presence to go and also for Your presence and anointing to be on the campus! We claim Messiah University and the students and employees for the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus!

This was the Feast of the Passover that Jesus had with his disciples before he was put to death on that cross. Some refer to this as “The Last Supper.” And the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, and Jesus knew this. And at this supper Jesus decided to teach his disciples a lesson in humility and in servanthood, but it was more than that. For although Jesus spoke in literal terms, he also spoke in figurative terms, which we shall see as we get further into this lesson.

For Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet. So Jesus told him that if he did not wash him, that he had no share in him. So, pay close attention to the wording here, for Jesus is speaking of more than just a foot washing. So Peter then said if Jesus insisted on washing him then he should wash all of him. And Jesus said next that the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. He said, “And you are clean, but not everyone of you.” For he knew who was to betray him.

Okay, did you see it? He isn’t speaking of bodily cleanliness here. He is speaking of spiritual cleanliness. For if Judas was just bodily unclean, that would have nothing to do with him betraying Jesus. So Jesus was saying that Judas was spiritually unclean, because he knew that Judas was going to betray him, because the devil had put it into his heart to do so. But Judas was spiritually unclean before the devil put it in his heart to betray the Lord, for we read in other passages that he was a thief.

So, let’s go back to what he said to Peter. He wasn’t telling Peter that he had no part in him just because he refused to have Jesus cleanse his feet. And when Jesus told him that the one who is bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean, he was speaking of being spiritually clean by faith in Jesus Christ. Peter was spiritually clean because of his faith in the Lord, but Judas was not, because Judas lacked faith, and that is why he was ready to betray the Lord.

But Peter, even though he was completely clean still needed to have his feet washed. Why? Well, from a practical standpoint they pretty much walked everywhere and their paths were usually of dirt, and many of them wore sandals, and so their feet would get dirty every time they walked somewhere, and so foot washing was something practical that was done as they would enter into people’s homes, as far as I can recall. So that was the literal part of it, I believe.

But spiritually speaking, since this also has spiritual application, what do our feet represent? They represent our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And even though we are spiritually clean through genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we need that daily cleansing, too. That is why Jesus told the people that if they would come after him, they must deny self, take up their cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him (Luke 9:23-26). For this is about our walks of faith, which is a daily thing where we die daily to sin.

Therefore, when Jesus told them that he had given them an example, that they should also do just as he had done, he wasn’t speaking just of washing people’s feet, and it doesn’t have to be confined just to the literal washing of feet, for that was something cultural and practical that they engaged in at that time and place in history. But the greater lesson, on a more practical side, is that of humility, and of us serving one another humbly in caring for one another’s needs.

But there is the spiritual side of this lesson, too. For if the washing of feet has to do with this daily cleansing of sin regarding our daily walks of faith in our Lord Jesus, how would that fit? We cannot cleanse someone else’s sins. Only God can do that. But what can we do? Well, for one we can be in the practice of denying self and dying daily to sin and walking daily in obedience to our Lord. And then we can be sharing the encouragement from God’s word to our fellow Christians to also have that daily cleansing in their walks.

And that is what the Scriptures teach we must do, too. We are to encourage one another daily, which includes exhortation, holy urging, and provoking one another to love and good works, and to walk in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. And we are to use our spiritual gifts in the assigned body parts the Lord has given us for the mutual edification and spiritual growth and maturity of the body of Christ, his church. And we are to serve one another in love.

We are also to be those who are speaking the truth in love to one another so that we may no longer be like children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. And so that we will all grow to maturity in Christ together as each body part does its work. And we are to teach and admonish one another and exhort one another every day so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And this way we wash each other’s feet.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

For the goal of it all is that we all walk in close fellowship and harmony with our Lord Jesus Christ, and with one another, and that we have sweet fellowship with our Lord, and with one another, based on the teachings of Jesus and of his NT apostles, and not based on the teachings of human flesh. And that we all keep growing in our walks of faith to spiritual maturity in Christ, and that we grow in our love relationships with our Lord and with his body, and that we minister his love and grace to one another.

"My God and I"

Music & Lyrics: Austris A. Wihtol, 1932

My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadow's hue.

He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be;
When all was but a dream of dim conception,
To come to life, earth's verdant glory see.

My God and I will go for aye together,
We'll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.

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