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Exodus 15:13.  "You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation."

God's mercy (Hebrew "chesed") is His constant and concentrated devotion to His people.  Those who experience it are ones toward whom He exercises constant, strong, and loving grace.  As the Scripture elsewhere puts it, He has "set His love upon them."  Such people will never fall away from Him.  It reflects what Paul was saying relative to the Philippian Christians.  He said, "Being confident of this very thing, that He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Simply put, His mercy is what drew us to Him, moved our hearts to love and trust Him, and now ensures that we will cling to Him no matter what.  And His mercy influences every aspect of our daily lives as well.  As the apostle says, "who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Pet. 1:5)  His mercy is constant and unfailing.

Is He keeping you today?  Do you adequately appreciate the mercy of God that keeps you from falling day by day and hour by hour?
Al Moak

Hi everyone.  Up early this morning as slept very little last night. 

Our daughter's friends car broke down on the I-85 around 10 pm last night and they called on Stacey to go pick she and her two children up.  The mother was at the hospital tending to her mother, who is very ill and had been readmitted to the hospital yesterday.  Our daughter didn't get home until aoub 2:15 am and I guess I was worried about her being out.  She had to leave for work at 6 am this morning and managed to do that.

Janet, I think many churches are selling their parsonages or manses and simply providing their ministers a housing allowance.  This allows the minister and his family to own property and enjoy the appreciation that seems to usually accompany home ownership.  I don't think our church here or the one we came from have ever owned a parsonage. 

Today the cleaning lady is due as well as the yard folks.  Right now much of the Atlanta area is under tornado warnings until 11 am and there are some heavy storm coming in from the West.  However, it rather looks like the storms may bypass the area where we live as they are heading Northeast. 

I want to do more work on my family reunion webpage today.  Other than that nothing else on the schedule for today.

Al, thanks for that fine devotional today.  Where would we be without God's mercy?

Oh Al, yes, ALWAYS looking for/forward to His mercy.  Thank you for the good message.


Praise God for His Mercy today.

In His Grip,
kevin

Got back from Pass Christian, Mississippi on Saturday.  Pictures and newcasts don't give an accurate feel for the devastation from the hurricanes.....it will take 5 to 10 years to restore the area.

Worked hard and long to help drywall two houses and clean up a piece of property for the new Free Methodist pastor coming in June. Slept in tents (I felt like I was back in the Army.)  Used community showers and port-a-johns.  No stores to buy things, no newspapers to read, no TV or radio for a week....it was worth it.

Many many volunteers coming to help.   They came from all over the country.  Many have been there since Oct and will remain to complete a year.

God Bless you Ed for your devotion to the Lords's work.

Thank you Al for  the devotional. God's mercy, I am so thankful for his mercy and for my salvation.

Ed,
Thanks for sharing your week down on the coast helping in the construction there.  Our youngest grandson just got back from a week doing volunteer work in New Orleans.  You are right.  It will take years to build back up.  And here we are almost to hurriccain season again.

We had a good day yesterday.  We took Cornelia to church again and it was a happy time for us.  Yesterday we had a visit from our granddaughter, Ruth, who graduates from medical school next month.  I hope Cornelia will be able for us to make the short trip down to Memphis for her graduation.

Rev 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (KJV)

Papa John

Thank you Al, I think Kevin's signiture sums it up the best for me...In His Grip.

Thank God for his strong hand, and tender mercy!

Good morning, almost afternoon all!!  Things are okay at the Shuford house.  Kristi is running a fever adn gets to visit hte doctor if it isn't gone by later this afternoon.   She feels really puny today, and has since last Thursday or Friday.

We had some massive thunderstorms last night.  Lightning, thunder, hail, wind etc.  It was rather scary, if you ask me.  But, I'm not a big fan of storms anyway. 

I hope all is going  well for ya'll.  Take care and have a great day!

Good to see you, Karma.  I pray little Kristi gets well quickly.

Papa John, it seems only about 6 months ago that you told us Ruth was going to medical school; and here she is ready to graduate!    How time flies!  I'm so glad you and Cornelia had a good day yesterday.  God is good......all the time. 

Ed, it is wonderful that you were able to go help in the hurricane area.  My sister, bro-in-law, daughter, son-in-law and their three kids went down and worked for a while, too.  They said they had never worked harder in their lives!  But were so glad to be able to do it.

I need to do a couple of errands before Darrel leaves, as he needs my car.  Brakes are going out on his work vehicle. 

I shall return!

e-Truthlines


April 2006
Grounded in the Doctrine of Faith
Please do not misunderstand me when I tell you how disappointed I am
with our featured book this month, The Da Vinci Deception. My problem
is not with the book (it's helpful), nor with the author (Erwin Lutzer
is a friend). What disturbs me is the fact that such a book is even
necessary. A couple of days ago, I saw a quote from someone to the
effect that although he was a growing Christian, his faith had been
"deeply shaken" as a result of reading Dan Brown's heretical
ramblings.

To the extent that this man's testimony is representative of many in
our churches, it calls for those of us who preach and teach to ask
ourselves whether we are doing an adequate job of grounding our people
in basic Christian doctrine.
The apostle Paul was also concerned with this. He wanted the believers
in Corinth to know that their faith did not rest on man's wisdom, but
on God's power (1 Cor. 2:5). He urged the Colossians to continue in
their faith, established and firm (Col. 1:23). He reminded Timothy
that while evil men and imposters will continue to deceive, he must
continue in what he has learned and become convinced of (2 Tim. 3:14).

Read More >
http://cctfl.convio.net/site/R?i=D7nfdjTQEV46M9FEFD50Jg..

Thanks Al,
" He is able to keep you from falling."

Hello Everyone...

What good posts starting with a lovely devotional, Al.  Thanks for that.  Yes, how we all crave God's mercy.

Quote

Simply put, His mercy is what drew us to Him, moved our hearts to love and trust Him, and now ensures that we will cling to Him no matter what.

Ed, what a wonderful job you were doing for those poor folks.  

Hello to the rest of you.  I do hope that you have a wonderful day.  It rained heavily here all night and all morning but it seems to have stopped now.

I have an appointment and will be back here a little later.

Ed ~ Awesome work you did in Mississippi.  The TV is bad enough showing the devastation.  I don't know if I could handle it first hand.  I see Extreme Makeover-Home Edition is doing some work in the hurricane area, too. 

Papa John ~ Makes my heart smile to know that Cornelia went to church with you.  Sure hope she can make the ride to Memphis for Dr. Ruth's graduation.

The new-to-me laptop at church for the tape dupicating kiosk is super cool.  It makes the printer run lickety-split!!  Before, printing a page of cassette tape labels, I could go to the restroom, take Masters to the santuary, come back and it was still printing.  Now, it is done lickety-split!!  I got to church 15 minutes later than usual...went to bed EST, got up EDT...lost an hour so was slow in getting around.  But I got done and into the santuary for the first service 15 minutes earlier than usual!  All due to the fast printing.  Sounds like I can sleep a half hour later on Sundays now.

Last evening I went with Ivalou to her little church to listen to 41 kids in a choir from Mountain Mission School in Grundy, Virginia.  It is a private school...K thru 12 with an enrollment of about 270 kids.  They live there year round..their home.  How great these kids  were!  Each voice sounded like an angel's voice.  These are all kids from troubled pasts...some came their as babies, some later...but all kids from abandoned children, orphans, wards of state, kids from Ethiopia, Africa, Guana, all over the US.  They all exceed academically and have a 100% average for going on to college.  I wish I knew more about the school...I don't know if there is a website or not.  But it was a great 90 minutes of wonderful singing.  I bought a CD of their music.  They don't charge...just donation. 

Then this morning was my mammogram.  Ivalou went with me and then we were going for Chinese.  The place has changed to Mexican and a buffet.  First Mexican buffet I have been to in Indiana.  Great!! 

Small groups tonight!!

Today we're back to more "normal" early spring temperatures and the next three days are supposed to get down even more - into the low 40's or high 30's.  It rained some today, more is expected tomorrow and Wednesday and when the temps drop they predict the possiblity of snow - maybe up to six inches in my area.  That's life in the Adirondacks!   

Yesterday went well at church.  The PowerPoint presentation I had put together worked fine, I grabbed one of the men to take care of the coffee, his granddaughter helped with greeting, the third greeter and I took the offering, she did the "Minute for Missions" and I read the Prayer of Confession.  Then after the service another deacon had her 10-year old daughter and the daughter's girl friend wash the communion glasses while the other deacon and I dried them and put everything away.

There were only about 50 people at the second service and probably about the same at the early service and we took in over $700 for One Great Hour of Sharing!  We're over $2,000 now.  Not bad for our little congregation.   

Right, Chris.  And now that horrible, blasphemous book The DaVinci Code is coming out as a movie.   So much trouble in our world today, the only way we can avoid it is to look UP  .

I don't have water today.  Something happened to our well after Darrel left this morning.  It is surprising how many times you go turn on the faucet and get .... nothing.    And my cell phone is down (forgot to charge the battery) so I haven't been able to call him to ask if there is anything I can do to get it back on again.

Jeanne, good work!  Yours is a giving church, for sure.

Quote from: Etta Sue on April 03, 2006, 02:10:55 PM

Extreme Makeover-Home Edition is doing some work in the hurricane area, too. 

I wanted to get over to Biloxi to see the monument that was erected by Extreme Makeover, but had little time to travel.  Pass Christian did erect one in their city park.

I can't wait to go back there in a couple of years to see the improvments......

Pastor's Business  Card

A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his  parishioners. At one
house it seemed obvious that someone was  at home, but no answer came
to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore,  he took out a business
card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it  and stuck it in
the door. When the offering was  processed the following Sunday, he
found that his card had been returned.  Added to it was this cryptic
message, "Genesis 3:10." Reaching for his Bible to check out the
citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.  Revelation 3:20 begins
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard
your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked."

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones? They still are!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine" (Prov. 17:22) Now, pass it  on

I just got in from a class, so am hurrying through my readings tonight.

Y'all have a good evening.

Ruth Ann

Thanks for the nice devotional, Pastor Al.  Also appreciate what Chris & Margit contribute.

April Showers are certainly trying to live up to their reputation.  Right now it is pouring outside....Garden is doing well tho' and will post a few pictures soon.  Have been rather busy with things lately.  Guess Grandma is still useful

Not much to contribute today.  Stopped in at your picture of skating, Marilyn.  Will go back and check all the pictures tomorrow.  Have read that joke before but it is still worth a chuckle.

News reports simply get worse each day.  We get all the US and Canadian problems on TV, so it is overload.....Ferry sinking is causing lots of trouble and one couple presumed dead.  Probably will be months before anything is resolved and solved....and so it goes.  Will probably always feel nervous on the ferries in future.  Can't swim!

Here is another old joke....tho' it does have hidden truth:

The Perfect Pastor
{A recent survey has compiled all the qualities that people expect from the perfect pastor.} Here we share some of them with you:

Results of a computerized survey indicated that the perfect pastor preaches exactly 12 minutes.
He frequently condemns sin but never upsets anyone.
He works from 8: a.m. until midnight and is also a janitor.
He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $80 a week to the poor.
He is 28 years of age, and he's been preaching for 30 years.
He is wonderfully gentle and handsome.
He gives of himself completely but never gets too close to anyone lest he be criticized.
He speaks boldly on social issues, but must never become polically involved. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers; he spends all his time with senior citizens.

He makes 15 calls daily on parish families, visits shut-ins and the hospitalized, spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched, and is always in his office when needed.

If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this letter to six other
churches that are tired of their pastor too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of this list. In one week you will receive 1,643 pastors; at least one of them should be perfect.

Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its old pastor back in less than 30 days.

                           

I read the same articles about scientific research  about prayer.  We all know how reliable Science is.....

Pleasant Evening/Day all and God Bless.

Liz


 
         
 

Thank you AL for the devotional.  I will read in greater depth with my study tonight.

This has been "One of those days"  Our friend is in hospital with a serious infection.  Please pray for him, he really needs the Lord, and has been turned off by phony Christians.  He will be in for a minimum of 6 days.

There is a youth event in Detroit this weekend called Battle Cry.  Melaura is going and is really looking forward to the trip.  Some of the big youth bands will be there.  There will be thousands of youth from across N America there.  We need to keep this event in mind as we pray.  When these kids come home they will be on fire.  We as the parents and grandparents of this generation need to pray, pray and pray some more.  These are the kids who will be in charge some day.

I am tired.  I sleep well, but never seem to get rested so I am off for another night

Love to all
JudyB

Oh I meant to tell you that it has been raining off and on all day.  2 hours north of us in Englehart it has been snowing.  Melaura just came in from getting her book out of the car and said that it is snowing or something outside.  Brrrrr cold.  April Showers are here, the snow can stay away though.

Night all

Let's keep on posting here.