Walk wisely

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-22, ESV)

The Final Summit by Andy Andrews Book Review

The Final Summit by Andy Andrews


This is the latest install of a series of books around the character David Ponder. I have not read the book preceding this book, but I am going to go back through and read them. The series revolves around time travel and meeting those of significance before us such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, but as also meet one of the archangels Gabriel.

At first I found it difficult to read because I don’t have the back story. So once I got through the first few chapters, I found that I didn’t want to put it down. The book is a series of conversations between David Ponder and other past greats in history (you need to read to find out who, since it is a mystery until they appear). The conversations are to answer one question; What does humanity need to do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?

Know this book may not be for everyone, but those that enjoy history and wonder how those from the past might address those of our time; this book is up your alley. I found myself being drawn in to the conversation, almost as if I were there watching. I would recommend this book, but would recommend that you start with the other Andy Andrew books first, to get the back story.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Light Your Way

33 "No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light."
(Luke 11:33-36, ESV)

Welcoming the Father

Then he said to them, "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf* welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest." (Luke 9:48, NLT)

Diary of a Wimpy Church - week 7

Diary of a Wimpy Church - Week 7
Covenant Church - Shepherdstown, WV
Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 9:00am to Sun
Message by Pastor Terry Crawford

Bible Reference 1
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1 Corinthians 7:1 (NASB)
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Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.


Bible Reference 2
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1 Corinthians 7:26-27 (NASB)
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I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.


Singles and Jesus
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Single people can commit their full focus on the work of Jesus without relational obligations.

Bible Reference 3
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1 Corinthians 7:32-35 (NASB)
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But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.


Marriage Commitments
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Married people have real marital obligations and commitments to one another and their children.

Bible Reference 4
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1 Corinthians 7:1-5 (NASB)
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Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.


Bible Reference 5
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1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (NASB)
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But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.


Happy or Holy
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God does not exist to make you happy but to help you become holy.

Focus on Jesus
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Whether you are single or married, our focus should be on Jesus.

Single's Devotion
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Singleness is not a curse but a wonderful opportunity for undistracted devotion.

Unbroken Marriage
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God made marriage for one man and one woman with the intention that it would be unbroken and marked by oneness.

God’s plan
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Sexual activity and a faux living together outside of a legal marriage is not God’s plan for followers of Christ.

God and Divorce
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God hates divorce but allows it in cases of hard hearts lived out in adultery, abandonment or abuse. (These do not have to end a marriage if repentance, reconciliation and healing occur.)

God Heals Broken Marriages
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God is able to do the impossible with your broken marriage if you will allow Him the time and authority necessary to work in your marriage.

Further Reading
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Ephesians 5:21-33 (NIV84)
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Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church– for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.


Further Reading
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Colossians 3:18-19 (NIV84)
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Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

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Good or Bad

43 "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45, ESV)

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Household of God

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,t but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God byt the Spirit.
(Epheians 2: 19-22, ESV)

Grow in Grace

2 Peter 3:18 ESV

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

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Salvation for Everyone

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17, ESV)