Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 6.11- Old men have an important role in our community. Mr. Johnson was one of the frst old man I got to know outside my family. I was being allowed to be one of the key teachers in the city of Mesquite, Texas. I had trained for six years to be qualified to teach. I wanted to teach all ages. I loved making people laugh as they learned everything from typing, shorthand, biology, earth science, bookkeeping, basketball to Bible. The teaching was generally fun and exciting. Then there was this hard part of being a leader. Mr. Johnson had a beloved wife of many years. How could I be a teaching/learning partner with him without going to see him at his home when his wife died? Not possible the way I was raised. When you ask to be a teacher you are asking to drink a cup of bitter suffering with those you teach. My great nephew, Jackson, lost his mom when he was six. His young teacher embraced him and became much more than a teacher, but a second mom figure. Teachers and coaches and minis...

 6.10- Men who gather to teach each other will see the Son rise in their hearts. This picture is in Keller Texas on Thursday6.1.23, at 7.07am, as these men and my own fellowship group were studying, fellowing and praying. The more we are discouraged the less we cry out to God for exactly what we need and want. Then we are reminded by God to overcome discouragement by persisting in prayer. He teaches us to pray for exactly what we need and want. Exactly. Then God sends people to us to teach us how to listen to God, our healer, instead of faihless people who tell us to quit crying out to God about our problems. God then heals us spiritually through our sincere faith in Him. We listen better and do what He says and we start to move and improve. If we listen to people instead of God we will be overcome by discouragement and give up. If we listen to God we will pray and never give up. Those who finish strong with Jesus never quit praying and moving forward with faith in God our creato...

 6.9- If God uses medicene and doctors and nurses to heal you that is good. If you become a grateful and joyful person as a result then you have been truly made well. Luke 17. 11  Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.   12  As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy [ b ]  met him. They stood at a distance   13  and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14  When he saw them, he said,  “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they went, they were cleansed. 15  One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.   16  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17  Jesus asked,  “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?   18  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”   19  Then he said to him,...

 7.8- If you are a child of God and know Him then you know that you are the light of the world. At times you might be a part of a giant bonfire. At other times you are a small pilot light to be a steady source to light up other larger sources of light and heat. A couple of weeks ago the congregation where I grew up sent the children of to kids class with this song "This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine." All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of God's love for children and elderly and everyone in between. Matthew 5. 13  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how  [ d ] can it be made salty  again ? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people. 14  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a  [ e ] hill cannot be hidden;   15  nor do  people  light a lamp and put it under a  [ f ] basket, but on the lampstand, and i...