God's Enduring Mercy

TEXT: LUKE 13:1-10

KEY VERSE: “And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:8,9).

Abraham Lincoln, after General Robert E. Lee had surrendered, spoke to a large crowd from the balcony of the White House. His speech raised some curiosities and Senator Harlan, after listening to Lincoln attentively, asked: “What shall we do with the rebels?” The vindictive crowd shouted back, “hang them!” But Tad, Lincoln’s fourth and youngest son, who was then 11 years old, turned to his father and said: “No, no, Papa. Not hang them. Hang on to them!” Lincoln replied: “That’s it!” That was a call for mercy of the rebels. 

Take Up Thy Cross

Take up thy cross, the Saviour said,
If thou wouldst My disciple be;
Deny thyself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after Me.

Take up thy cross; let not its weight
Fill thy weak soul with vain alarm;
His strength shall bear thy spirit up,
And brace thy heart, and nerve thine arm.

Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame,
Nor let thy foolish pride rebel;
The Lord for thee the cross endured
To save thy soul from death and hell.

Take up thy cross, then, in His strength,
And calmly every danger brave;
'Twill guide thee to a better home,
And lead to victory o'er the grave.

Take up thy cross, and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.

== by: Charles William Everest ==

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...building the body of Christ.

Why You May Not Make Heaven

Text: Matthew 7:13-29

Where are you going?

The hope of every believer is to eventually make heaven and spend eternity with Christ in a city with streets of gold and vast splendors. But so often do we ignore the fact that the way to this eternal bliss is hard and thus, requires we prepare diligently and tenaciously, leaning on the Holy Spirit and God’s grace to have our names written in the Book of Life.

“Enter through the narrow gate and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find” (Matthew 7:14). The truth remains that very few would eventually make it to heaven. The question now is whether you would be among the chosen few?

History has something to say about this aforementioned point of the few making it to heaven. Remember the great flood that consumed the whole earth in the days of Noah? How many people were saved aside from the animals? (Genesis 7:1-14). Also consider the destruction of the two great nations of Sodom and Gomorrah. How many eventually made it out alive? (Genesis 19). These are vivid pointers to the underlining reality behind the chosen candidates of heaven.

It is, however, God’s desire that all make it to heaven but “many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able” because of various factors that will be highlighted. One of such factors is that some have seared their heart and have chosen the wide and easy way that lead to death- the way of the flesh that cannot please God (Romans 8:6-8).

You Are Special

Read the Scripture: Jeremiah 1:1-5

"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:4-5"

Is it not remarkable that when God began to talk to this young man and send him to his ministry, the first thing he did was to sit down and share with him that, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." Is not that what he is saying? This is the preparation of God. The remarkable thing is that this preparation began long before Jeremiah was even conceived. In other words, God said, "I started getting you ready, and the world ready for you, long before you were born. I worked through your father and your mother, your grandfathers and grandmothers, your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. For generations back I have been preparing you." What a remarkable revelation to this young man — that through the generations of the past God had begun to work!

When people face a crisis, they always start looking for a program, some method with which to attack the crisis. When God sets out to solve a crisis, he almost always starts with a baby. All the babies God sends into the world, who look so innocent and so helpless — and so useless — at their birth, have enormous potential. There is nothing very impressive in appearance about a baby, but that is God's way of changing the world. That is what God said to Jeremiah: "I've been working before you were born to prepare you to be a prophet, working through your father and your mother, and those who were before them."

Love Is Not A Fight

 Love is not a place

To come and go as we please

It's a house we enter in

And then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you

Throw away the key

We'll work it out together

Let it bring us to our knees.

Love is a shelter in a raging storm

Love is peace in the middle of a war

If we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door

No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for.

To some, love is a word that they can fall into

But when they're falling out

Keeping that word is hard to do.

Before You Say I Do

Make sure you know...before you say, "I do!"

Before making a long-term commitment with someone you need to know that you are compatible. You need to make sure that you can live with such person's views of life. The last thing you need is to invest years into a relationship, possibly even get married just to find out you have vastly different views towards educating children, or whether women should work. I'm not saying there are right and wrong views. The only wrong views would be ones you would not be able to handle. For each person this is different. The questions below were devised to help you and your partner find out how compatible you really are. Is this the one person you can see going through life's ups and downs with? Find out!

What are your religious views?

Do you believe in a God?

What are your views about an afterlife?

How should we agree to handle arguments?

If you're mad about something how will you let me know?

If you're having problems would you talk it out or keep it inside?

Do you like sharing your feelings?

What are your views about same sex friends?

How do you feel about ex-lovers being friends?

Welcome To August!

From The Truth Media family,

Happy New Month everyone!!!

"May the grace of the Lord
Keep all of you strong
That you only record
True joy as August glides along.

== Jacobs Adewale (Admin) ===

Best of wishes to you all and God bless! Regards.


THE TRUTH MEDIA
...building the body of Christ.

Consecration Unto God Alone

TEXT: LEVITICUS 19:23-37

Key verse: “Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:37).

George Foreman, at 45, was the oldest man in the world to win the heavyweight boxing champion. In his book, God in My Corner, he recounted how he achieved the feat. When he staged a comeback, nearly ten years out of boxing, he felt he needed to get rid of some excess fat, as he had ballooned from 220 to 315 pounds, which was not good enough for him. 

Sequel to this, he engaged himself in fat-shedding exercises. He started with the basics –running every day. At first, he could not make up to a mile. Intermittently, he would stop to catch his breath, huffing and puffing. Apart from himself and his wife, no one else believed he could recapture the title, which he had won before. But with time, especially in the eight month, after a continuous exercise, he was able to shed much fat and finally got down to his fighting weight – 229 pounds. The rest was a testimony.

Just as Foreman controlled himself, our text revealed the restriction, which God placed before the Israelites. For the first three years, they should not eat the fruits of their farm and on the fourth year, when the fruit had become holy, they should offer it to praise Him. Then, from the fifth year, they should start eating the fruits. For the greedy ones among them, this might prove an uphill task. They might start eating the fruit from the first year, thus disregarding God’s instruction, which, unfortunately, might attract God’s wrath upon their lives. 

Sometimes, God can give such a holdup directive concerning His will and it may be to teach us self-control or how to be patient. Unfortunately, some impatient and disobedient believers may not appreciate this waiting period. 

Our text equally stressed God’s warning against all forms of ungodly practices, particularly magic, charm, horoscopy, shaving because of the dead and tattoo, among others. If you are involved or giving approval to these evil practices, you had better repent.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: With complete consecration comes perfect peace.

See more by clicking <<daily manna>>

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...building the body of Christ.

In His Hands

'Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt
Our feelings come and go;
Our best estate is tossed about
In ceaseless ebb and flow.

No mood of feeling, form of thought
Is constant for a day;
But thou, 0 Lord, thou changest not:
The same thou art alway.

I grasp thy strength, make it mine own,
My heart with peace is blest;
I lose my hold, and then comes down
Darkness, and cold unrest.

Let me no more my comfort draw
From my frail hold of thee,
In this alone rejoice with awe—-
Thy mighty grasp of me.

...Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing.

Text John 15:1-7

You have you been working for a firm for close to five years or more without promotion or a raise in your salary. But those who just joined the firm within a year or two get promoted and you wonder why? Or you have your own business and have been battling with sales; you are at the edge of bankruptcy and you wonder why?

You move from frying pan to fire, disappointed and frustrated from job seeking. Your home is in disorder and can’t understand why your wife wants a divorce. Your kids are out of control; your life is upside down and can’t make sense of anything. You feel life isn’t worth living and suicide is the only way. Really?

The answer is simple: “…apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life… and all things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being (John 1:3).

This is to clarify that the Sovereign and Supreme God of all has given everything and all power in heaven and on earth to His Son, Jesus Christ from the foundation of the world. He controls the affairs of man, for man can do nothing on his own. So, don’t be surprised that you have been toiling hard and have been getting infertile results daily. That is because Christ is missing in your life.