The Quiet Sermon (Author Unknown)
“A member of a certain church, who previously had been

Attending services
Regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the
Pastor decided to visit
Him.

>It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at
>home alone, sitting
Before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his
Pastors visit, the man
Welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the
Fireplace and
Waited. The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In
The grave silence, he

Contemplated the dance of the flames around the
Burning logs. After some
Minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully
Picked up a brightly
Burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth
All alone. Then he
Sat
Back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all
This in quiet
Contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame
Flickered and diminished,
There
Was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more.
Soon it was cold and
Dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.
The Pastor glanced
At
His watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly
Stood up, picked up

The cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle
Of the fire.
Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light
And warmth of the
Burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said
With a tear running
> Down his cheek, "Thank you so much for your visit
And especially for the
Fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next
Sunday."


We live in a world today, which tries to say too much
With too little.

Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons
Are the ones left
Unspoken.”
Author Unknown

Grace and Peace to You…


“2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose
Us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c]
Predestined us to be adopted as his sons, (and daughters), through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he
Has freely given us in the one he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's
Grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Ephesians 1:2-8

What wonderful promises from our Lord! As I was reading from Ephesians this morning, these verses made me smile and joy filled my soul! Just knowing that God chose me…and you…to be His children, to share in His grace, peace and mercy! Wow, what a blessing and what a wonderful thought to start my day off with.

I thank you Lord, for choosing me to lavish your grace, peace and mercy on. For sending your Son to shed His blood so that I could receive your saving grace. I thank you for this most precious and costly gift of all gifts!

I love you my Father and your Son, my Savior!
I bow at your throne this morning with a thankful heart,
Lisa

More than Conquerors
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, [j]
Who[k]
Have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the
Firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how
Will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who
Shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l]
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, [m]
Neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 28-38

More than conquerors…way more than conquerors, that’s exactly what we are when we have God as our Father, Christ as our brother, and the Holy Spirit living in our hearts intervening for us …speaking to the Father for us when we have no words of our own.

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. What a wonderful promise to remember during these most difficult economic times, days when evil is so prevailing not in our society. How scary it is to think how the world will be for our grandchildren if the world doesn’t turn from its wicked ways. But we have such wonderful promises in Romans from our Lord. He will be with us through it all. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will separate us from His love. He will take care of his own. Yes, there may be difficult days, some of us may lose our homes, jobs, savings…but we can never lose the treasures that are stored up for us in heaven. We can never lose eternity with Jesus! Praise the Lord and bless His Holy Name!

I thank you Lord for your promises. Come quickly I pray!

Future Glory…

Future Glory
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for
The sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in
Hope 21that [I]
The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have
The first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved.
But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that
Words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's
Will.”
Romans 8:18-27

Oh the inexpressible joy I feel when I dwell on the “future glory” we will receive when we meet our maker…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As for waiting patiently…well, I’m not always so patient. I do pray for the Lord to come quickly for I/we live in such a perverse and hurting world. My heart is broken daily as I listen to the heartaches of parents whose children who have been kidnapped, the stories of women and men who have been molested as children and are just now able to tell their stories due to living in fear and shame for decades, the diseases like cancer than ravage the bodies of friends and family, bullying that goes on in our schools, and the list goes on.

Then there is the failing economy, the war, terrorist, false religions, and worst of all, a nation …our nation who has turned her back on the very God she was founded upon.

Dear Jesus,
Come quickly but until you do, please find me faithful to share your message of hope, love, redemption, and freedom from the fear and shame this world offers. Help me be a beacon of light that shines the way to you, to peace in the midst of pain, joy in the midst of sorrow, and love and life everlasting.
IN your Holy Name I pray,
Amen

A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
And a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
A time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
A time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set
Eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be
Happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything
God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

15 Whatever is has already been,
And what will be has been before;
And God will call the past to account. [A]

16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
In the place of justice—wickedness was there.

17 I thought in my heart,
"God will bring to judgment
Both the righteous and the wicked,
For there will be a time for every activity,
A time for every deed."

18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same
Fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [b]
; Man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows
If the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal [c]
Goes down into the earth?"

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after
Him? Ecclesiastes 3

There surely is a time for everything…am I, are you, ready for everything that God has set before you to do with your life? Am I willing to give Him my all, to be totally spent for Christ…to eat, drink, and live all in the name of Jesus?

Oh how I hope and pray that I am…that you are…that my Jesus will be glad to see me when I go home!

Until that day, may this season of my life reflect His presence.
Amen.

The Best is yet to come!


Luke 14:27, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (NIV)

Upon entering the sanctuary, on the last day of revival, each worship participant was given a plastic fork. Soft murmurs could be heard through out the sanctuary as everyone tried to guess what the meaning behind the fork could be. Not only was it the culmination of a wonderful week of revival but it was Homecoming Sunday with a cover dish lunch waiting in the fellowship hall! I knew I could make good use of my fork in the near future!

Late into the sermon, Mike Pinnery, our revival preacher, revealed the purpose of the fork by relating the following story. There was a woman dying of cancer and she went to her Pastor to make her funeral arrangements. After picking out the scripture, hymns, and the pall bearers, she prepared to leave. Just before walking out of the Pastor’s office, she said “Oh, I almost forgot the two most important things. I want to be in an open casket and I want to have my Bible in one hand and a silver fork in the other hand.” The Pastor smiled, looked a little puzzled and said, “I understand wanting your Bible with you, but what the significance of the fork is baffles me?” The woman smiled and explained. “When I was a little girl and my mother would clear the dishes from the dinner table, whenever she said, “keep your fork”, I knew the best was yet to come!” The Pastor nodded his head in understanding. The woman continued…”when people ask why I have the fork in my hand, I want you to tell them that I’ve gone where the best is, and I hope to see them there!”

The revival preacher challenged us to take our plastic forks with us to work, school or wherever we went the next day and share the story with anyone whom asks why we had a fork with us. The story really inspired me so I took it a step further and went home that evening and took one of my sterling silver forks and a hammer and made a slide for a necklace out of it. I wore it to work for the next few days. Talk about a witnessing tool! I had at least 50 opportunities to share the “fork story” and so much more just by wearing the fork around my neck.

One such opportunity occurred on my third day of wearing the silver fork. It Was Wednesday and I was working in Raleigh with Services for the Blind. My Supervisor, who is Jewish, asked, and I quote, “Lisa, are you wearing your fork in case you get hungry and don’t have anything to eat with?” He thought he was being funny so I laughed and said “no, actually Larry, there is a story behind the fork, would you like to hear it?” He said “yes”. I smiled for I knew he had just taken the bait! I proceeded to tell him the story. Larry’s response was negative. He said, “Lisa, the best is here and now. It doesn’t get any better than this.” I said Oh, Larry, I beg to differ. As a Christian, I believe the best is yet to come. Quite honestly, if I thought this world was all there was, I wouldn’t want to get up in the morning. The Bible promises me a home in heaven with no more pain and suffering, peace and harmony with everyone…and the list goes on.” I said, Larry, think about our students we teach. Look at Natasha over there. She has just come from dialysis. I’m told she can barely hold her head up. What about Sandra? She has just lost her vision, her husband has walked out on her and she is left alone to raise three teenage girls. Do you really want me to tell her this is as good as it gets? Everyone in here is blind or going blind. Some of them have lost their spouse due to their vision loss, their families are having problems dealing with the changes in their lives, their health is declining and the list goes on. Do you want me to honestly tell them that today is the best there is?” There was silence for a little while. I then continued. “Larry, if I can tell these students that the skills I am teaching them today will make their tomorrow better, and the skills I’ll teach them next week will make their future weeks and months better, then they have a reason to get up in the morning, to try and come to class and to look forward to what tomorrow will bring.” I continued to tell Larry how we all need something to look forward to each day, that on days when life is so difficult and we don’t want to go on, we need to know that the “best is yet to come! Larry walked away and I offered a prayer that God’s words would be heard and honored. In just a few minutes, Larry called me over and asked me to share the “Fork story, without preaching!” with the entire class! Isn’t our Lord good. He used the compassion of a Jewish man for his clients and the boldness of a blind woman wearing a real silver dessert fork around her neck to share His word with a group of hurting people. God is good…all the time! Lisa Shearin