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to do God’s business
and it’s God’s business
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Tag Archives: business
208 – July 27 – This Day in Baptist History Past
The Welsh revival spreads to America
The Philadelphia Association of Regular Baptists began meeting as early as 1688, in what they called general, and some-times yearly meetings. The business of these meetings was confined to the ministry of the Word and the administration of the gospel ordinances. But at their meeting July 27, 1707 they seem to have taken more the form of an association, therefore this is the date that historians use for the founding of the Philadelphia Association. The members and ministers that made up these churches came from the great Welsh migration in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Such leaders as Jenkins Jones, Abel Morgan, and Samuel Jones brought with them their tradition of great preaching, love of singing, and warm and fervent evangelism. They were a feeble, though faithful, band of believers at that time, consisting of but five churches: Lower Dublin, Piscataqua, Middletown, Cohansie, and Welsh Tract. There were only 14 Baptist churches in all of the colonies at that time. Some things that were discussed in their meeting were things wanting in the churches especially pertaining to who was not to preach in their associational meetings. “…a person that is a stranger, that has neither letter of recommendation, nor is known to be a person gifted, and of good conversation, shall not be admitted to preach, nor be entertained as a member in any of the baptized congregations in communion with each other.” They were careful to emphasize that they desired no creed and that a “Gospel church is the highest earthly ecclesiastical tribunal and is in no wise subject to any other church, or the decrees of associations or councils. They believed strongly in the sovereignty of God, but kept a fiery spirit of evangelism.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon: adapted From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 307-09.
Filed under Church History
GOVERNMENT PROCESS
‘Tis far better to laugh than to cry, and this one serves us well. Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership.
Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client: You have to love this lawyer… A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply: (Actual reply from FHA): “Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we note the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.” Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows: (Actual response):
Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain .
The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ‘s expedition. Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume God also made the part of the world called Louisiana . God; therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?”
The loan was immediately approved. And you want Government running health care?
“The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”
Filed under Politics
TIME TO GET BACK TO THE R’S – RESPONSIBILITY
We have become a nation of no responsibility. We do not want to be responsible for the choices we make. We do not want to be responsible to support and care for ourselves. We certainly do not want to be responsible for mistakes we make.
This reminds me of a young man that was being interviewed for a job and the interviewer asked this young man “are you responsible”” The young man replied, “very much so, my last job, anything that went wrong, they said I was responsible.”
We are put by God into a family whose purpose is to raise us in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord,”They also are to bring us to the point of maturity, where I decisions will be deliberate and wise. My how we fail in this today. I pastored a man and his wife that had attained the age of 90 years old. Here is what he related to me about his youth. By the age of 11 he was barely able to reach the handles of the plow. Now he was responsible for plowing a field with a mule and keeping the rows straight. He was expected to put in a full day of work. The parents are not being responsible to raise heavenly citizens today and therefore our children are not responsible citizens any more.
We have neglected to teach our children that the Bible teaches, that “one will not work will not eat.” I remember the day when a person might be thrown on government support temporarily but the shame caused them to redouble their effort to be self-sustaining. Today day there is no shame in living off of other people. They are on the government dole, some not realizing that government does not have money. It is their neighbor that earned that money. Now I am not talking about injured, handicapped or the elderly that is on Social Security. I am talking about healthy, able-bodied people. They have not learned responsibility for self or family.
Many will not accept responsibility for the choices they make. A person I worked with years ago was complaining about men and there was not a good man around. My statement to her was – would you look for steak in the hamburger section – why no. So why do you search for fine, considerate, upstanding men among the dead beats. This is the situation today. Flash attracts. When flash attracts people rush to the flash. Soon the flash is out, the thrill and beauty is gone and destruction is left behind. Having not looked far enough down the road to see what would transpire, people experience devastation in choices and decisions. What choices and decisions we make have to be tempered by looking at results down the road. This is a responsibility in governing our life by right decisions. Take responsibility in decisions.
Having managed a business and owned my own business, I appreciate a person that steps up and says I am responsible for that mistake. When we deny our mistakes, we lie and God hates a liar. Those that admit mistakes are more easily forgiven. They will be corrected and instructed but punishment will be less than a person that lies about mistakes. We should be responsible in accepting our mistakes and owning them.
We teach responsibility here because we are ultimately responsible to the LORD.
Filed under Uncategorized
JUST A LITTLE MORE SLEEP
HEBREW HONEYCOMB
William Andrew Dillard
JUST A LITTLE MORE SLEEP
Sleep was created for earthly life as the means of necessary refreshment to the body. Blessed are those who are able to sleep six to eight hours each night, but cursed are those whose goal is to sleep life away during both day and night. Doubtless the sleep of a laboring man is sweet as said the wise man, Solomon, but those who sleep in the affairs of life can expect poverty and loss. Let’s think about it!
Just what is this sleep in the affairs of life? It may be identified as one’s personal comfort zone. It is the nature of the flesh to create a comfort zone, and to disdain any call to consider things that might endanger that insulation to it. That is sleep. Through such sleep, fortunes have been lost, businesses bankrupted, and lives shipwrecked. The Bible underscores this important principle. Consider that it was while they slept that the Midianites were suddenly put to flight by the small band of Gideon. It was while men slept that the Medes and Persians brought an end to Babylon, the first great, world empire. It was while men slept that an enemy sowed tares among the wheat in the parable of Jesus. Moreover, it will be while men sleep that the bridegroom (Jesus) comes and many will not be ready to meet Him.
Solomon said, “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Prov. 6:9. He went on to say, “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.” 20:13. Modern times have underscored just how easy it is for individuals and churches to sleep when they should be swimming upstream in holy proclamations of salvation and the soon-coming King of Kings! One might name many reasons why this condition exists, but none of them are acceptable excuses for it.
So, what will we find in the New Testament regarding this specific subject? A quick survey shows much. Let us hear Paul as he admonished the Romans, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13:11. Similarly, he taught the Thessalonians, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” I Thess. 5:6. God’s people are not children of the night, but children of the day. They are to be awake, alert, watchful, and understanding of what and why things are happening. In so doing, the example of our Lord will be followed. One may be sure that He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121.
Are you a “Ho-hum, you’re okay, I’m okay,” kind of person, or are you awake, discerning the signs of the time in accordance with the Word, and listening for the shout?
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Filed under Commentary, Uncategorized
Tagged as Babylon, business, poverty, religious, sleep, spiritual