July 10, 2011 ~ Pastor Leslie Crockett, Jr.

1.  Ephesians 4:11-16 ~ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

2.  1 Corinthians 14:20 ~ Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

When we allow God to perfect us, we can have faith, stand on the Word & believe in God's deliverance. We can stop thinking as infants when it comes to the things of God & grow up, maturing in the Word!

3.  James 1:5-8 ~ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
 
1 Kings 3:5-14 ~ At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

With perfection comes wisdom... whatever we lack, including wisdom, we are mature enough to know that we can ask God for whatever we need. We must have unwavering faith, without doubt.

Where do they go?

Yesterday a Facebook friend posted about a little girl being stabbed to death saving her sister. His question was basically why does this type thing happen & why do we, as a society, turn a blind eye. One thing that I saw, more than once (something I've seen & heard before) was that the girl was in a better place. It wasn't my post to rant on & on so I made my comment & dropped it but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like something needed to be said. So of course I turned to my own "diary" via Facebook & said this...

"You know something? I get so sick & tired of hearing people say "RIP" or "s/he is gone to a better place" when someone dies. How do you know that? Everybody who dies does NOT go to Heaven - that is the ONLY good place a person can go when they die so if they didn't go there, where the HELL else is good! My good friend died a month ago. My other good friend's dad died yesterday morning. I can only hope they both went to what people call "a better place" but I don't know that for sure. Just because I love them doesn't mean they HAVE to go to Heaven. Just because they were good people doesn't mean they went. I hope they made it. I hope we all make it, but NONE of us KNOWS for sure unless we live the life God intended us to live. The only SURE way to KNOW you are going to Heaven is to be saved & to STAY saved!"