¶

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag love is not arrogant, love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, love does not take into account a wrong suffered, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

Are these the attributes in your life when it comes to dealing with family, friends, coworkers, people at church, people you meet in the store or how about that person who just insulted you, or cut you off going down the road. When someone does something that annoys you stop and think about your response, and ask your self do I really have love in my heart?

 

If you want to live a life of love then practice doing these things and take them in order, patients is first for a reason, for if you can learn to be patient all ell will fall in to line.

 

i first saw this in 1972, before this time in my life i hated every one including myself, i was dangerous to be around, i would just as soon heart you as to look at you I was disgusted will all mon kind but that is a whole different book.

After a few changes in my life i took a bible and disappeared for ten weeks went up in the mountains and read it, absorbing the words i read and there were some that as i read became a part of me right then and there, this was one of those.

At the moment of read it i knew i was wrong in every relationship i had and that ther was no love for anyone in me and they all knew it.

i made the choice to start practicing love with everyone i came in contact with.

 

After thinking about it decided this was just too much to handle, went to sleep that night and awoke with (start at the begging and just do one at a time) so i did, and failed over and over, then started asking Father God for help when i failed and about nine months later something happened that normally  would have ended with the guy being dealt with but instead i noticed my level of impatiens with him was different, and walked away almost in shock.

From there it got better, no have not got it down pat yet but what i have noticed is the rest of the list has fallen in to line, being patient with people brings about being kind, and not being jealous and that the amount of bragging of what i have done and being arrogant and acting unbecomingly has almost gone away, i do not seek its own way in relationships, i am not as quickly provoked, i don’t seem to care if someone wrong me, i do not except or go along with unrighteousness (sin) as before, and have a feeling of joy with the truth, I have learned I can put up with just about anything, i am not a skeptical of most people (doctors, politicians, and lawyers still questionable), i now have great hope for people, and the greatest thing i have noticed is i can endure anything.

 

Do i still get upset Yes, do i still become impatient at times Yes, but it does not last as long and is something i am still willing to allow the Lord to help me through and it is still getting better.

 

Yea 45 years later and i am still working on loving others but with love being the reason Christ died for me i should be willing to love others, so i keep practicing patients.

Give it a try, you have to be dedicated to something or someone so why not be dedicated to Christ Jesus and to being patient with others, practice love.

i’m posting this tonight, because i plan on sleeping in tomorrow and then getting up and going right to work on back room need to get buttoned up for winter. Be back on Monday.

 

1st Corinthians 13: 1-13

 

¶

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

 

Love is of Jesus and Jesus is love, and beyond that nothing ell matters; Jesus’s whose life has been based in through and around LOVE. Love is why Jesus did what He did for you and me, and we are to copy the life of Jesus and live it out through our own, for the world to see.

 

The Love of Christ is the one thing that each and every one of us is to shine before every person whom crosses our life.

 

All the words you speak no mater of man or angels, or how lowed you may say them, no matter how much knowledge you know, no matter what you may see in the future or how faithful you may be, No matter how many people you may help No matter what you may give, and not even if you were to give your life for another,

 

No matter what you may have, think, or be; it is of no value to your life if your life is not one that is filled with love towards all mankind, you are wasting your time and energy doing things to satisfy your own personal ego or looking for that next pat on the back and God can see your heart and knows your level of love.

 

Secret; you can love the person and hate the sin.

 

Monday: what are the actions of Love according to Jesus.

Tomorrow we start in 1st Corinthians 13 and will be talking about love,

i got to bed early this morning and then got up late,

have to go and do some work this morning,

so will leave you with this Love is an action not a feeling,

feelings can be changed but real love never changes it is faithful and true.

Hope you come back tomorrow for the start of 1st Corinthians 13, have a blessed day.

How many of you watch movies?

Have you seen?

Marry Poppins 2 hrs. 19 min

Star Wars 2 hrs. 22 min

The sound of Music 2 hrs. 54 min

Pearl Harbor 3 hrs. 4 min

King Kong 3 hrs. 7 min

Titanic 3 hrs. 14 min

Ben Hur 3 hrs. 32 min

Lawrence of Arabia 3 hrs. 36 min

Gone With the Wind 3 hrs. 41 min

The Ten Commandments 3 hrs. 42 min

The Lord of the Rings 3 hrs. 48 min

Hamlet 4 hrs. 3 min

 

Of these12 movies;

2 are over 2 hours

7 are over 3 hours

And one runs over 4 hours

 

Average length of a football game just over 3 hours Average

baseball game runs just over 3 hours

An Average concert runs around 3 hours

And the average Sunday morning church sermon is 45 min. the average worship services is 15 minutes.

 

Why is it we can set and watch a movie or a game for two or more hours but can’t spend more than 30 to 45 minutes listening to the word of God?

 

i have known Christians who walked seven blocks to get to a concert hall and then stood in a line four blocks long for six hours to attend the concert for 2 ½ hours, but two Sundays later drove out of the church parking lot because they could not find a parking spot close enough to the door.

 

Do you get irritated when the church service goes over the allotted time you have allowed to be there? Or have you gotten upset because the worship leader sang an extra song or the same songs more than once?

 

Average amount of time each week researching football on the internet = 8.3 hours

And another 3.4 hours watching football on TV

The average total time each week spent for football = 11.6 hours

And over the last 12 months 34% of fans have also paid to watch football on TV.

 

44% of them watched two games on separate screens at the same time.

53% men and 47% women

57% of fans spend an average of $114.00 per year to read about the game they just watched.

 

The average person who plays football on line last year spent $556.00

a total of 59,300,000 players An increase of over 2,000,000 a year over the last three years And each player spends an average of $46.00 a year on fantasy sports materials.

 

At the time i wrote this:

Adult population in America = 242,000,000

Adult football fans in America = 117,000,000

 

According to Religious demographics 70% of Americans say they are Christians that’s 169,400,000

And 71% of those say they believe in God that’s 120,274,000

And 39% of those say they attend church that’s 67,000,000

But studies show that around only 50,000,000 actually attend more than once a month

And that only 3-5% actually tithes

 

Studies have also shown that the typical football fan is in debt 27% to 280% more than their yearly income, 64% are short tempered, 72% are egotistical, 81% are egotistical, and 54% have a tendency of being violent.

 

In another study 8 out of 10 people who tithe have zero credit card debt and 28% are completely debt free.

(I got a kick out of the study they said that well I will quote “that certainly doesn’t suggest too much in terms of prosperity, but it may be a telling sign for responsible finances altogether.”) ( I guess that depends on what you consider to be prosperity, a lot of stuff and things - debt, or the freedom to serve God)

This study also showed that people who tithe on a regular basses are 82% less apt to be short tempered, 91% are more compassionate, 68% are less apt to get in to verbal confutations, and 72% are have less illness.

 

One study shows that in February of 2016 there were over 300,000 churches, the average church in America offer 350 seats the largest seating composite in a church I could find was 7,200

 

Between the NCAA, NFL, and high school legs there are well over 300,000 football stadium witch seat from 200 to 1,650 in school yards and 30,000 to 111,407 in national stadiums, with 18 more being built by 2020 with seating from 4,000 to 70,200

 

When asked are you more apt to attend a football game on Sunday or attend a church service out of the 2,750 adults who claimed to be Christians and said they believed in God 57% said yes, they would attend a football game rather than attend a church service.

 

Witch goes along with one study that says 62% of all Christians would rather take part in a social activity on Sunday morning rather than to attend their local church. And 54% of the 38% that do go don’t tithe.

So what is going on in the Christian community?

1. Lack of gratitude for Christ and what He has done for us?

2. Self is too important?

3. The word of God not important anymore?

4. Can’t tithe because no monetary gain?

 

i think it is that because the word of God has been so watered down by the world influence in the church that most people see the church as a thing from the past that is restrictive and by what is seen and heard now of even the church going Christian is that they are no different then the worldly people. They speak the same foul language, they attend the same unmoral activities as the world, and they invest in the world more than in the church or the Christian community.

 

Typical Christian today; has no problem being lude crude and rude when not in church or around Christians they know they are: me first, self-centered, selfish, inconsiderate and unfaithful to God and Christ Jesus.

 

Christ said “narrow is the path and small is the gate that leads to salvation, and few are there who find it”.

If you fall into the worldly way of being a Christian wake up get on the narrow path, and get rid of all the baggage so you can make it through the small gate. Time is running out and Christ is returning and you nor anyone ells knows when …… It could be today.

 

Repent of your ways that are not of God turn and follow after Christ and His teachings. Sports, entertainers, knowledge, stuff and things (money) have become gods in this country, but remember thi,s the one true God the creator, said” I am a jealous God, you are to have NO other gods before Me.”

 

Try showing up at church this Sunday and bring your tithe, give God the opportunity to speak to your heart and mind, if you go with the purpose of knowing Christ and more about His love for you, you might just walk out surprised at the peace and gentle love you have experienced. Christ is waiting for you, He will not over power your will but He is waits for you to come to Him.

Take the chance, step away from this world and its ways and see what Christ can do in your life.

Day 25

 

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“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not [fn]act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

¶

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

 

The last 25 post have all been the teachings of Christ telling us how we are to live in Him.

 

i understand we have been taught to each day, look for a new thing, a new post a new idea, new words, new teaching, new, new, new but if you are truly wanting to fallow Jesus you need not just read His words you need to take the time to soak them in to your beaning to the point they overflow from your life to others. Don’t keep looking for something new until you can apply what you have already heard or read. This is something that really attached to my own life the first time i read Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

 

Some things you will Grasp quickly others will take some time don’t be so anchoes to move on before it becomes a part of your life not just something in your mind.

 

Matthew 22:37-39

And He said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND."

This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is like it, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

 

Every day of your life these two commandments should be lived out in your life if you are a Christian and did nothing more than these two things your life will be a blessing not only to the Lord but to yourself and your fellow man.

 

So go forth and LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, and YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.