Serving the community since 1922
Serving the community since 1922
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PASTOR JIM NEAL You like I have read and heard the admonition that “it takes three times the muscle work to frown than to smile, so quit working yourself to death and smile.” I’m no muscle expert and do not know how to validate that piece of information but I do know it is much more fun to smile and laugh than to cry and frown. The challenge we have with happiness, laughter and cheerfulness is that we make it our goal and not a byproduct of our life’s work. Often, we hear pe...
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” --Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:12-14 If you are a college basketball fan, then...
Do you long for a comfort zone? Nido R. Qubein says in his little book “Attitude: the remarkable Power of Optimism” that a comfort zone is a place to rest, to be safe and a place to be comforted and coddled. Sounds like a nice enough place to be doesn’t it? However, think about it -- does that sound like a place where a person can grow, strive and change his world? Of course not; rather, it sounds like a nursery, a place full of infants but not for those who desire to change their little corner of the universe or beyon...
JIM NEAL “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” --Abraham Lincoln Doesn’t it seem as you look around, read the newspaper or listen to or watch the daily news that one of the key concepts missing in all of humanness is the quality of wisdom? A very old dictionary that I have in my position, actually the 1953 College Edition of Webster’s New World, defines wisdom in this way: “the quality of being wise; the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on...
“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” --Abraham Lincoln Doesn’t it seem as you look around, read the newspaper or listen to or watch the daily news that one of the key concepts missing in all of humanness is the quality of wisdom? A very old dictionary that I have in my position, actually the 1953 College Edition of Webster’s New World, defines wisdom in this way: “the quality of being wise; the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge...
“He who covers his sins (wrongdoings) will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them Will have (find) mercy.” --Proverbs 28:13 Wise King Solomon penned that truism many, many years ago -- approximately 3,000 years, long before there was a NFL, Roger Goodell or any professional sports. The book of Proverbs was written for the reason of giving individuals wisdom in virtuously every aspect of life. What does that have to do with the thought of the day? Simply this: Over the last several years, dating back to the ste...
“The fear of becoming a ‘has been’ keeps some people from becoming anything.” --Eric Hoffer I had never heard of Mr. Eric Hoffer until one week while preparing a sermon for Sunday. I read this quote in a theological commentary and it captured my attention. It was used to show the frivolity and flighty experience of living in the world of novelty. Briefly defined as always talking and seeking new endeavors. (see Acts 17:21) Got anyone in mind when you read that statement … our world is full of those who seek new experienc...
Anyone can know how many seeds are in an apple: Only God knows how many apples are in a seed. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” --Galatians 6:9. I remember reading the first quote many years ago, and it has for some reason been on my mind all week this week. I have no idea what instigated its rising up, but it is there. Perhaps it is because we have just finished one of the most sacred seasons, the Christmas time. Or perhaps it is because we have just beg...
Philippians 2:6 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even, death on a cross. Christmas 2018…what will it hold for you? What will happen to move you closer to ‘The Savior,’ push you away from Him, or only cause you just to maintai...
