We often find ourselves dealing with people who are hard to love, difficult to deal with, and even hard to like.  This person can be our spouse, our child, our neighbor, or those with whom we attend church.  (Sorry for being so painfully honest this morning.)

Personalities that are so opposite our own or manners or habits that clash so dramatically with our most basic value system make loving those people a chore.

Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”

God speaks of remembering your “labour of love.”  That is good news.  God knows that we labor to love certain people.

As in most of society today, we are overly indulgent and pitifully short on character.  The ability to do something hard gives people anxiety attacks, drives folks to drink booze, use drugs, or throw fits of rage.  Honestly, we just need to face up to it: some things are hard and we need to accept the fact.

Love is not always easy.  “Love is a commitment.”  (Brother Hyles wrote with this title.)  True love is not the love story seen in a movie in which all the aspects of love fall into place and loving someone never takes any effort.  That is only in the movies and it is a big lie.

Our Lord spoke so often about love because loving is not natural.  Loving the “easy to love” is nothing special, but loving your enemy or blessing those who curse you is not easy — it is a “labour of love.”  So the Scriptures exhort us to remember that although it will be labor, God still expects us to love, and He will reward our labor.

God defined love when He gave us His Son — certainly not an easy task.  John wrote, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  (1 John 4:10)   Demonstrating real love costs us.  As Paul wrote, ” Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”  (Ephesians 5:25)
Men, we are directed to love and GIVE ourselves to our wives.  That sounds like labor.

Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”
That shows things will happen that could cause bitterness, but God commands us to not be bitter.  It is a labor of love.

Be willing to labor at this thing called love.  We labor for money, we labor for our children countless hours.  Think of all a mother does for a baby, all the late nights, lack of sleep, inconvenience, all of that is a labor of love.  Think about the hours of labor a man will put into a hobby, cars, yard, sports, all because he loves it.

May we be willing to labor at our love for spouse, family, and others, but especially for the cause of Christ.  Yes, loving God will cause us to have to LABOR.

Pastor Goddard

Peace is something that is entirely underrated.  We seek things, we strive for the praise of men, the attention of others, both friend and stranger, yet we rarely seek things that accompany to peace.

Luke 19:42 “Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”

Regardless of our financial standing, peace should be the ultimate desire.  Regardless of how many children or cars we have, having peace of mind, peace in our heart, and peace in our home is the real prize in life.

Our Lord said the things that BELONG TO OUR PEACE were not known.  Many of the people in Israel had missed finding peace. They had failed to grasp the One Who would bring peace to their troubled world.

We are to seek peace;
1 Peter 3:11 “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.”
Psalm 34:14 “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it”

Jesus is our peace;
Ephesians 2:14 “For he is our peace,”
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:… The Prince of Peace.”

The Bible brings peace;
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.”

As long as we seek peace the same way the world seeks it, we will fail;
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

One reason we lack peace lies in our feeble attempts to gain the peace of the world, a peace which, judging by their unstable lives, is obviously empty.
Deuteronomy 23:6 “Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.”

Our peace comes from a quiet walk with God — praying, reading and studying the Bible, and seeking to know Him better;
Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Having peace is the great desire of all mankind.  We will not find it in the world, but in diligently seeking that which is not of this world.

Pastor

In today’s world, information is a far too accessible through various types of media, and the information is not only often wrong, but also dangerous.  The more frequently people come in contact with it, the more likely they are to believe it.

Equally dangerous is familiarity with sin.

Romans 16:19 ”For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”

God directs us to be well-informed concerning good and uninformed concerning evil.  The trouble with TV, movies, the Internet, and all other forms of social media is that so much shame and so much evil that would never have been known 50 years ago is now readily viewable.

To be simple about evil means to know little about it, to not understand, to not have the facts, to be uninformed.  Sadly, we are very informed about wrong.  Every kind of evil deed or shameful act can either be seen on the news or vividly shown in movies or police shows on television.

So little good is put in front of us that it is necessary for us to search out good.  If we are going to to be simple concerning evil, we must avoid wrong.

Jeremiah said, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart,” and only too well the devil knows the importance of what the eye sees.  Guard young eyes; guard what enters the eyes and heart of your children.  Very understandably David wrote, ”I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes…” (Psalm 101:3)

Make it a mission in life to be simple, to know little about others who have failed or about those who have done shameful deeds.  Study to know the good and decent things in life.

This is God’s instruction on how to have a happy life.  He really does know best.

Pastor Goddard

On our senior trip we enjoyed extra time, recreation, and an absence of routine — to say the least.  Being with 19 teenagers for a week will definitely remove all routine.  However, one thing that is not removed is conversation.  There are lots of words.  The uplifting power, as well as destructive power of words is amazing.

Proverbs 15:4  “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”

When we speak right words, our words bring forth life.  Kind and decent words heal, strengthen, and build.
Proverbs 12:18 “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.”

Notice the rest of Proverbs 15:4  “… but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”

When we speak perverse words, they break or tear the spirit.  Parents and leaders are very unwise to allow their young people to speak improperly.  Ugly words, vulgar words, hateful words — – all these will break the speaker’s spirit as well as the spirit of those around him; for unholy words hurt the speaker as much as the listener.

Foul speech will create a breach in the spirit of the young people in a youth group or classroom, on an athletic team, or in a family.

We underestimate the power of words.

David says words are like a razor;
Psalm 52:2 “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.”
Psalm 59:7 “…swords are in their lips:”
Psalm 64:3 “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:”

James says words are like a fire;
James 3:6 “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

It is vital that we control our own words as well as the words spoken by those under our authority.

Control the critic, and you are likely to prevent a church split.  A breach in spirit is the ruin of a marriage; therefore control the words you use toward one another.

After being denied some activity, a foolish child told her mother “I hate you!”  The mother (many decades ago) spanked the child and wisely said, “You can hate me all you want, but you will never say that again.”  Allowing free expression of emotions is dangerous.  We may feel all kinds of emotions, but to let them pour out of our mouth is not only unwise but foolish.

At this point, let’s discuss texting, note writing, and late night conversations between young people.  Words that would not normally be expressed will be spoken or written due to the lateness of the hour or the privacy the teen has.  Words are powerful.  To allow our young people to text all day long, and worse yet, into the late hours of the night, is dangerous beyond measure.

A man who is frustrated in his marriage  is in a dangerous spot.  When he goes to work and shares WORDS with a woman who is likewise frustrated in her marriage — both marriages are headed for shipwreck.   Thoughts and feelings put into words can knit hearts or destroy lives.

May we guard our own words but also the words we allow others to say in our presence.

Pastor