The Bible Says

God's Children Should All Be Best Of Friends
by Charlie Grier
 

Companions
-- Dave Egnar

Two men were neighbors -- one had opened his heart to Christ and the other had not. The believer witnessed often; the other ignored him.

One day the Christian answered a knock at the door and his neighbor stood before him with a big smile. "I finally did what you said. This morning I opened my heart to Jesus!" The two embraced and cried. Over the years they supported and prayed for each other. They became the best of friends. They served together in an effective jail ministry for 25 years.

Fellowship is an essential part of what it means to be a Christian. The psalmist made this strong statement of identification with those who reverence God and keep his commands:" I am a companion of all who fear you" (Psalm 119:63). The Bible has numerous examples of companionship: David had Jonathan. Paul had Silas. Mark had Barnabas. Jesus had His disciples. The churches in Asia were made up of people who stood together in sometimes hostile and difficult circumstances.

The church is a fellowship, a community. Our circle of Christian friends helps us in many ways as we walk together along the path that God has laid out for us. They offer us the kind of companionship we need.

-- unquote

WHOSE Fault Is It?

A preacher and an atheistic barber were once walking through the city slums. Said the barber to the preacher "This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. If God was as kind as you say, He would not permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other character-destroying habits. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits those things."

The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt and filthy. His hair was hanging down his neck and he had half an inch of stubble on his face. Said the minister, "You can't be a very good barber or you wouldn't permit a man like that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut or shave."

Indignantly the barber answered, "Why blame me for that man's condition. I can't help it that he is like that. He has never come to my shop. I would fix him up and make him look like a gentleman."

Giving the barber a penetrating look, the minister said, "Then don't blame God for allowing these people to continue in their evil ways, when He is constantly inviting them to come and be saved. The reason these people are slaves to sin and evil habits is that they refuse the One who died to save and deliver them." The barber saw the point.

--The Bible Friend, September 1995, page one.

We have experienced a long cold winter this year. Is spring really here? If so it is a good time to start a good church garden.
A Church Garden

Three rows of Squash

  1. Squash indifference.
  2. Squash criticism.
  3. Squash gossip.
Four Rows of Turnups
  1. Turn up for meetings.
  2. Turn up with a smile.
  3. Turn up with a visitor.
  4. Turn up with a Bible.
Five Rows Of Lettuce.
  1. Let us love one another.
  2. Let us welcome strangers.
  3. Let us be faithful to duty.
  4. Let us truly worship God.
  5. Let us give liberally.

-- Uncle Ben's Quotebook

Noah's Carpenters

Many hundred years ago
They ventured too remark
That Noah had some carpenters
To help him build the Ark.

But sad to say on that last day
When Noah entered in.
Those carpenters were left outside
And perished in their sin.

How sad to think they may have
Helped to build the Ark so great.
Yet still they heeded not God's Word
And awful was their fate.

Today the same sad fate exists
Among the sons of men.
They help to build the so-called church
Who are not born again.

They stay behind for sacrament.
They work, they sing, they pray:
Yet never have accepted Christ,
The Life, the Truth, the Way.

Another judgment day will come,
As sure as come the flood,
And only those will be secure
Who shelter 'neath Christ's Blood.

-- Uncle Ben's Quotebook

Church Pub

Oroftiana, Romania (EP)---Christians in Oroftiana have turned their pub into a place of worship. After hearing the Gospel and accepting Christ, bar owners in the small, impoverished village in Romania cleared out all furniture from the bar, leaving only chairs and opened the one-room establishment to Bible studies and worship services. Members of the new church currently run a program to feed the hungry children of the village. Music and Scripture memorization are also a part of the children's program at the bar-turned-worship center.

--The Bible Friend November 1999, page 6.

World's Greatest Need

A little more kindness and a little less greed;
A little more giving and a little less need;
A little more smile and a little less frown,
A little less kicking a man when he's down;
A little more "we" and a little less "I",
A Little more laughs and a little less cry,
A little more flowers on the pathway of life;
And fewer on graves at the end of the strife.

-- Uncle Ben's Quotebook