From Gary... Better kids- better world

Time has a way of blurring memories.  My youngest daughter is 41 now, so I don't often think about all the WORK it took to raise all three girls.  Did I say HARD WORK- NO, WELL I SHOULD HAVE.  But the results speak for themselves.  The cartoon encourages us to train our children and its cute, but frankly, I like the advise from the book of Proverbs much better...

Proverbs, Chapter 20
  11 Even a child makes himself known by his doings,
whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

Proverbs, Chapter 22
  6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.

  15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child:
the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Proverbs, Chapter 23
 24 The father of the righteous has great joy.
Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

Proverbs, Chapter 29
 15 The rod of correction gives wisdom,
but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

Discipline, correction, encouragement and many, many prayers should do the trick.  Beyond these things, I really don't have any other advice.  Only that the order of the first sentence should be prioritized according to the personality and actions of the child.  In retrospect, I think that I was just OK as a Dad.  If I could do things over again, I think I would study the Bible with them more, ask them questions and LISTEN.  But, hey, everyone is different- just do the best you can and leave the rest up to God.  I know that HE disciplines!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... To have lived at least once

To have lived at least once

To do a lovely deed, something fine and wonderful, to be able to take it out and admire it as a thing of beauty, to unashamedly reflect on it as if it were not your own, even while it is indeed your own—that is to experience life! To do such a thing, something that remains the high-water mark of your experience, to do such a thing that is unmatched by any other thing in your life, to have risen to such a glorious moment—though you fell back to mediocrity at best—to do such a thing once, that is to have lived!

And to be able to take it out even now and consider its worth, to acknowledge its wonder and to be filled with joy and pleasure and pride at it—this is always to live. For always to have a heart that admires such goodness as beauty is itself a continuing wonder.

To know that for a moment there was in you what that deed or word or look or sigh or silence revealed, redeems a man or woman or girl or boy from the despair of utter darkness. And even now to hold that moment precious, to want to align yourself with such a thing of fineness means you aren’t as bad as even you might think. To long to love is to love. To long to long is to long and to long to love is to love.

Feed that longing! Don't let it die for if it dies you no longer live.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Deliverance From An Evil Age (Galatians 1:3-5)

                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS"

                  Deliverance From An Evil Age (1:3-5)

INTRODUCTION

1. Paul's greeting to the churches of Galatia (Ga 1:3) contains words of
   grace and peace...
   a. From God the Father
   b. And our Lord Jesus Christ

2. As an illustration of such grace and peace, Paul continues in verse
   4...
   a. "who gave Himself for our sins" (grace!)
   b. "that He might deliver us from this present evil age" (peace!)

3. I would like to direct our attention to the latter phrase...
   a. Undoubtedly we have heard much about Jesus dying for our sins
   b. But what of this idea of delivering us from an evil age?

4. The word "age" (aion) as used here means "period of time"...
   a. Paul has in mind the present period of time
   b. Paul views this time as evil - cf. Ep 5:16; 6:13

[Do we take seriously the evil of this age?  Do we appreciate the
deliverance that Jesus provides?  Consider for a few moments...]

I. THE EVIL OF THIS PRESENT AGE

   A. EVIL IN PAUL'S DAY...
      1. Paul described the sins of those in his day - Ro 1:18-32
         a. Against whom the wrath of God was coming
         b. For denying the Creator and suppressing the truth
         c. Given up to their own vile passions, they fell into
            depravity
         d. They were filled with all sorts of unrighteousness
      2. He called such sins 'the works of the flesh' - Ga 5:19-21
         a. Sins that are evident (to those not blinded by them)
         b. Sins unrepented of that will keep one out of the kingdom of
            heaven - 1Co 6:9-10
      -- Paul and the early Christians found themselves living in an
         evil time

   B. EVIL IN OUR DAY...
      1. Today, many think lightly of such things as:  fornication,
         adultery, divorce
      2. One is considered enlightened when they support:  abortion,
         homosexuality, same-sex marriage
      3. More and more our culture is accepting:  lasciviousness,
         pornography, drug abuse
      4. All of which reflect a world view impacted by:  humanism,
         evolution, selfishness
      -- Today we find ourselves living in a very evil time

[Yes, things are not much different today than they were in Paul's day.
Yet Jesus gave Himself for our sins "that He might deliver us from this
present evil age" (Ga 1:4).  Consider therefore...]

II. THE DELIVERANCE THE LORD PROVIDES

   A. DELIVERANCE FROM THE GUILT OF SIN...
      1. Sin is a transgression of God's law - 1Jn 3:4
      2. All have sinned, for which the punishment is death - Ro 3:23;
         6:23
      3. Jesus' blood frees us from the guilt of sin - Ep 1:7
      4. We receive remission of sins when we are baptized - Ac 2:38;
         22:16
      -- In Jesus, there is no condemnation for sin - Ro 8:1; 3:24

   B. DELIVERANCE FROM THE POWER OF SIN...
      1. Sin enslaves, but Jesus provides freedom from the dominion of
         sin - Jn 8:31-36
      2. This He does by giving us the Spirit - Jn 7:37-39
      3. We receive the Spirit when we are baptized - Ac 2:38; Ga 3:
         26-27; 4:6
      4. With the Spirit's aid, we can put to death the deeds of the
         flesh - Ro 8:12-13; Ep 3:16,20
      -- In Jesus, we are set free from the law of sin and death - Ro 7:
         24-25; 8:2

   C. DELIVERANCE FROM THE TEMPTATION OF SIN...
      1. We continue to be tempted by fleshly desires - 1Pe 2:11; Ja
         1:14
      2. Jesus teaches us to watch and pray that we might avoid
         temptation - Mt 26:41
      3. His Father will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are
         able to bear - 1Co 10:13a
      4. In every temptation He will provide a way of escape - 1Co 10:13b
      -- In Jesus, the godly can find deliverance out of temptations
         - 2Pe 2:9

   D. DELIVERANCE FROM THE MORAL DARKNESS OF OUR WORLD...
      1. Those enslaved to sin are darkened in their understanding - 

         Ep 4:17-18; cf. 2Co 4:3-4
      2. Which explains their lewdness and greediness - Ep 4:19
      3. But Jesus reveals moral truth, and how we are to be renewed in
         true righteousness and holiness - Ep 4:20-24
      -- In Jesus, light shines in the moral morass that plagues our
         world - Jn 8:12; 12:46

   E. DELIVERANCE FROM THE WORLD THAT IS PASSING AWAY...
      1. This present age with its lusts is passing away - 1Jn 2:17
      2. The day is coming when this world and its works will be burned
         up - 2Pe 3:10
      3. Even if we live out our lives, they are as momentary vapor - Ja
         4:14
      4. Our deliverance may come in the form of our own death - cf. Isa 57:1-2
      5. It will eventually come at the return of Christ - 1Th 4:15-17
      -- In Jesus, we have the promise of deliverance from every evil
         work - 2Ti 4:18

CONCLUSION

1. Living in a morally confused and spiritual dark world, in Jesus we
   find...
   a. Deliverance from the guilt of sin
   b. Deliverance from the power of sin
   c. Deliverance from the temptation of sin
   d. Deliverance from the moral darkness of our world
   e. Deliverance from the world that is passing away

2. We note that such deliverance is "according to the will of our God
   and Father"... - Ga 1:4c
   a. It was His plan from the very beginning - Ep 1:3-6
   b. It was His love that offered His Son for our sins -  1Jn 4:9-10

3. How shall we respond to such deliverance...?
   a. It was designed to be "to the praise of the glory of His grace"
      - Ep 1:6
   b. Thus Paul writes concerning God:  "to whom be glory forever and
      ever. Amen" - Ga 1:5

Shall we not glorify God by accepting His graceful deliverance from this
evil age that He makes possible through His Son Jesus Christ?  We do so
through obedience to the gospel... - cf. Mk 16:15-16

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011