July 8

Christian motto: I'm going to Heaven, having a great time doing it, and want to take as many with me as possible.

"What can I do today that I would be proud to look back on at the end of my life?" -- Unknown

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs--jolted by every pebble in the road." -- Henry Ward Beecher

A New Kingdom Coming
John Wycliffe had a vision of a Bible in the common English tongue. But dogmatists anchored to the past killed him for it. John Huss dreamed a dream of a responsible Christian life guided by the scriptures. Traditionalists burned him at the stake. Martin Luther was awakened to a new reality of God's grace -- an awakening not shared by contemporaries profiting from the status quo. Consequently, he was hunted for years for revealing an exciting and preferable future. A kingdom was coming and the powers of the past could not prevail against it.
What is the difference between a nicely dressed man on a tricycle and a poorly dressed man on a bicycle? A tire.


"The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are." -- Thomas Dreier

"The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it's on ... a football field, in an army or in an office." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved." -- Helen Keller

"Without personal growth the best we can achieve is infantile relationships." -- Terry George

If you hold your thumb at arms length toward the sky, there are more than 250,000 galaxies behind the space of you thumbnail.

"One kid leading another kid to the foot of the cross for a life-changing encounter with Jesus is one of the most prolific and effective means of evangelism in the nation."
- George Barna

"Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." - George Patton

"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

He who made us also remade us. Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

Shoes As Gandhi stepped aboard a train one day, one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the track. He was unable to retrieve it as the train was moving. To the amazement of his companions, Gandhi calmly took off his other shoe and threw it back along the track to land close to the first. Asked by a fellow passenger why he did so, Gandhi smiled. "The poor man who finds the shoes lying on the track," he replied, "will now have a pair he can use."

God will Never......
The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you.
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.


In the days of America’s infancy, Alexis de Tocquerville wrote: “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and ample rivers, and it was not there; in the fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

The president of the College of New Jersey, the Reverend John Witherspoon (Presbyterian), was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
He is too much forgotten in our history books: John Witherspoon had a far-reaching influence on democracy. He had personally taught several of the signers of the document, and nine of them were graduates of the little college over which he presided at Princeton.
When he took up his pen to put his name to the document, Witherspoon declared: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, a spark. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon the table, that insures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house. He that will not respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy of the name of free man. For my own part, of property I have some; of reputation, more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged on the issue of this contest; and although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country."

FREEDOM “THOUGHTS”
**Christianity and patriotism have much in common. It is significant to note that:
Our patriotic hymn, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," was written by a Baptist clergyman, Samuel Francis Smith.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was written in 1892 by a Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy.
The words, "In God We Trust," carried on all of our coins, are traced to the efforts of the Rev. W. R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania. His letter of concern, addressed to the Hon. S. P Chase, was dated November 13, 1861. Seven days later Mr. Chase wrote to James Pollock, Director of the U.S. Mint as follows:
"No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. Will you cause a device to be prepared without delay with a motto expressing in the finest and tersest words possible, this national recognition."


Freedom — what is it? How far does it go? And what are we free from? As we gather to worship on this July 4, we are reminded that long before there was a United States or any country or states, there was and is Almighty God. It is the freedom we have in Him that allows all other things to exist and be what they are. What is this freedom? The prison bars of our sin have been opened by Christ, and we are forgiven and free to live the life of a child of God. Any other life is still in prison and that is what we need to tell our world today! Those who live in Christ are not tyrants, they are not law-breakers. Instead they are ready to share the love, mercy, grace, and compassion of Jesus to make their home, their community, and their country a better place in which to live!

Today is a celebration of freedom! In Christ we are free from the bondage of sin and live under the blessings of God and His unending mercy and grace. As Americans, we are free from tyranny and oppression, given certain unalienable rights as citizens of the United States. As we gather to celebrate these freedoms, we must never lose sight of the fact that America IS you and me! We are a line of people who have willingly paid the price to preserve and protect our nation’s freedom. We have been blessed as no other nation on earth. Yet we must be cautious of our pride in such accomplishments for our trust must not and cannot rest in our own strength. One of our greatest freedom fighters, President Abraham Lincoln, said over a century ago that it was the duty of nations and individuals to “recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proved by all history, that those nations only are blessed who God is the Lord.”

**Freedom comes by filling your mind with God's thoughts. -- Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )
**Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. -- William Penn (1644-1718)
**Proclaim liberty throughout all the inhabitants thereof. -- -Leviticus 25:10, inscription on the Liberty Bell at Philadelphia
**The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
**The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom. -- Horace Greeley (1811-1872)

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -- Lou Holtz