Christmas Day 17
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Author Archives: sage_brush
Christmas Day 16
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Friday Proverb – Don’t be a Talebearer!
Satan, and the media he controls, is the master talebearer. It is he that inspires every bit of salacious gossip and slander in the world today. He camps out in churches too – leading sheeple to verbally destroy their brethren with “something they’ve heard.” It is sinful human nature to be attracted to darkness. Talebearing is a slippery slope that is often looked-on as harmless, yet the ones who do it are caught in Satan’s sticky web of darkness. The more they do it, the more they want to do it. It is exceedingly sinful.
Proverbs 11:13
A talebearer revealeth secrets:
but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
Brothers and sisters – we have enough of our own sins to be concerned about. Your church family’s, spouse’s and children’s sins should not be shared with others. Not unless you want them talking about you to their friends! We will reap what we sow, no matter what it is. Lying, stealing, greed, and talebearing will all come back to us 10, 100, and even 1,000 fold. One of the reasons FOX News is so incredibly popular is because of its gossipy nature. On the website, it features un-newsworthy items such as “More Sex for Grilled Cheese,” or “Get the latest news on celebrity scandals!” Yes, garbage like that is prominently featured, while zero attention is given to the church’s works of righteousness. The reason News Corp does this, lies in the love of money. As stated before, sinful human nature is drawn to darkness. Darkness makes money. Oprah Winfrey’s wild success is proof positive of this. Not only should we not bear tales ourselves – but we shouldn’t listen to it either!
Do you really want to resemble the “father of lies” in any way? When you do his work, he will not reward you – he will be your accuser!
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Don’t give him any ammunition to accuse you with!
sage
Christmas Day 13
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Good Stewardship – Cheap Thrills
On this page, we invite our readers to share their thrifty ideas with us and other readers. It behooves the truly born-again Christian, to make proper use of whatever God gives. I always like to think, that the more frugal I am, the more I will have to support missions, ministries, and to give to worthy causes – like the crisis pregnancy center. Wastefulness has no place in the family of God, especially when we consider that every breath we draw is a gift from Him.
John 6:12
When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Proverbs 18:9
He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
I’ll get it started with some of my major thrifty stuff. Please feel free to share your frugal fun with us in the comment section – and if I deem any of them to be superior – they will be edited into the post.
Cut down old flannel sheets, shirts, and anything else that is 100% cotton, into handkerchiefs. Serge or overcast the edges, or pink if no sewing machine is available. Wash with bleach or borax and hot water for sanitation, since it doesn’t matter what color they are as long as they are clean. A good size is 10 x 10.
Use plastic lids that have a deep lip as plant saucers to catch water run off. For example – the lid to large Nesquick canisters are ample saucers for a 5″ pot.
Use large clear “pretzel barrels” as mini cloches/greenhouses for your early tomato and pepper plants. They are the perfect size, and will protect tender plants from late frosts and torrential downpours. A lot of snack foods come in these barrels now. And you can use the lids as plant saucers!
Empty yogurt containers make ideal seed starting pots, with holes poked in the bottom for drainage. Filled with cheap soilless planting media you can save oodles of money by starting your own plants from seeds. Especially if you save seeds!
- 4-6 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss or Coir
1 part Perlite
1 part Vermiculite
Cat Mahm:
Keep the heat in at Christmas-time by lining the windows with “fake snow”. This could be cotton fluff from the inside of an old pillow, or I even sometimes use white dish clothes.
Keeping heat in can reduce the heating bill, so I line everything with towels or insulating materials. It especially helps around the bases of the windows!
Cat Mahm:
Yes it does.
Need to kill the weeds in the driveway? Don’t buy all of that expensive weed killer.
During the spring/summer/fall months, I get a tea kettle to boil. Shortly after it has boiled, I pour it on the dandelions or persistent grass growing up through concrete. I go out the next morning and the weeds have completely withered and are easy to pull up. My driveway is weed free all year long.
Cat Mahm:
I never go out to eat. I never do take out. It’s never healthier, it’s addictive, and it’s way more expensive.
I buy my ground beef in bulk and chop it up into individual pounds, and store them in the freezer. You can do this with so many things. I would love to get a chest freezer someday. Buy everything on sale, freeze it. So many things can go in a chest freezer.
Please share your thrifty secrets with us!
sage
Christmas Day 7
Christmas Day 6
Friday Proverb – Holding Your Peace
Proverbs 11:12
He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour:
There’s a lot of talk in the media lately about “low information.” This or that politician or pundit is excoriated for making overreaching statements about things they don’t know enough about. Well, the same thing happens in the Church family. How often do we gaze around at what our brothers and sisters are doing and make judgments about them? I sometimes bristle when people try to tell me about music, most often scolding me for not liking jazz. There is an assumption that those heavily involved in classical music are also jazz lovers. This assumption is based on low information.
In the same fashion, when we decide that someone is a “bad” Christian because they don’t make it to church every Sunday, or don’t “pony-up” for the offering – we are als0 demonstrating low information. It is a sad state of affairs, when the family of God turns on itself.
When a brother or sister is struggling with sin, we have compassion and care for them. When a brother or sister is embracing sin, then, and only then, do we judge righteously. to do otherwise – is to be void of wisdom. . .
but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.
Wouldn’t you rather be a man or woman of understanding? There is no way, that we can know everything that is going on in the lives of our church family. Only God knows. Making petty statements about why this person is doing this or that, is gossip, and it is very harmful to the Church. If there is something serious going on, that is for the pastor and church elders to handle. If you notice someone struggling – then go over and talk to them! Don’t talk to someone else! Be Jesus’ representative in church as well as in the world. Your title – Christian – means “of Christ, or follower of Christ.” That is an important title to carry, with awesome responsibility.
Romans 11:33-36
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen.
sage
Christmas Story
For the Lord’s Day – The Old Fashioned Meeting
This song, has a lot of “bounce,” but it is not syncopated. The tempo is even, at a quick march beat, known as a “quick-step.” A real “foot stomper!” The offering for today was inspired by Terry Dawson’s testimony, wherein he was saved at “an old fashioned tent meeting.” The words to this hymn are outstanding – especially verses 3 and 4!
The Complete 1922 Lyrics to the song: The Old Fashioned Meeting,
By Herbert Buffman
Verse 1:
Oh how well I remember in the old fashioned days,
When some old fashioned people had some old fashioned ways
In the old fashioned meetings, as they tarried there
In the old fashioned manner, how God answered their prayer.
Chorus:
‘Twas an old fashiomed meeting, In an old fashioned place
Where some old fashioned people, had some old fashion grace
As an old fashioned sinner, I began to pray,
And God heard me and answered in the old fashioned way
Verse 2:
There was singing, such singing, of those old fashioned airs!
There was power, such power, in those old fashioned prayers
An old fashioned conviction made the sinner pray
And the Lord heard and saved him in the old fashioned way.
Repeat Chorus:
Verse 3:
Well, They say it is better, ” Things have changed, don’t you know!”
And the people in general seem to think it is so
And they call me old fashioned when I dare to say
That I like it far better in the old fashioned way.
Repeat Chorus:
Verse 4:
If the Lord never changes, as the fashion of men,
If He’s always the same, why, He is old fashioned then!
As an old fashioned sinner saved through old time grace,
Oh, I’m sure He will take me to an old fashioned place.
Repeat Chorus:
Short Name: Herbert Buffum
Full Name: Buffum, Herbert, 1879-1939
Birth Year: 1879
Death Year: 1939
Born: November 13, 1879, Lafayette, Illinois.
Died: October 9, 1939, Los Angeles, California.
Buried: Valhalla Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California. His epitaph reads “I have fought a good fight.”
After moving with his family to California and being converted to Christ at age 18, Buffum felt a call to the ministry. He held ministerial credentials with the Church of the Nazarene, and was a Holiness/Pentecostal evangelist. He was also a prolific song writer, with many songs inspired by personal experience; He had 10,000 Songs to his credit, 1,000 actually published. Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not” claimed He once wrote 12 songs in an hour. Though a talented musician, Buffum received no musical training. He sold most of his songs for five dollars or less. When he died, the Los Angeles Times called him “the king of Gospel song writers. http://www.hymnary.org/text/o_how_well_i_remember
Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
sage
Friday Proverb – Truth vs. the Hypocrite
Such a sad, sad reality for the Laodicean church age. The Body of Christ is teeming with hypocrisy. You would be very hard pressed – no – let’s go further and say it would be impossible to find a New Testament church that was free of gossip . . .
Proverbs 11:9
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour:
This picture shows girls gabbing, but we all know that men are just as guilty of gossiping. What is most troubling about this activity, is the lack of church discipline for such a serious offense. Damage done by gossip is tangible and far-reaching.
Do you realize – ladies and gentlemen – that when you are disparaging your spouse to others in your church family, that you are guilty of this kind of hypocrisy? That when you confide everything that your teenager does to your neighbor, coworkers, “friends” at Bible study – you are gossiping? Yes – Christians gossip about their families. Parents say terrible things about their spouses to their own children! And if your family is not your neighbor – I don’t know who is! How utterly shameful.
WE ALL NEED TO BE VIGILANT ABOUT EVERY WORD
THAT COMES OUT OF OUR MOUTHS.
but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
Never fear beloveds. If you are being maligned by family members, church family, coworkers, neighbors . . .the truth will prevail if you are a child of God. His Truth is eternal, and completely just. As a child of God, you are covered by His righteousness, and are justified by your faith in His finished work on the cross. You will be delivered in truth, and justice.
1 Peter 4:16-19
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
sage
Thanksgiving Proclamations by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, – AmericanMinute.com-William J. Federer
Happy Thanksgiving from The Vine Vigil
For the Lord’s Day – I Love Thee Lord / My Jesus I Love Thee
“I Love You, Lord”
I love you, Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
Oh, my soul, rejoice!
Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear
I love you, Lord
(I love you, Lord)
And I lift my voice
(And I lift my voice)
To worship You
(To worship You)
Oh, my soul, rejoice!
(Oh, my soul)
Take joy my King
(Take joy my King)
In what You hear
(In what You hear)
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
(Let it be a sweet sound)
In Your ear
I love you, Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
Oh, my soul, rejoice!
Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear
I love you, Lord
(I love you, Lord)
I love you, Lord
(I love you, Lord)
(And I lift my voice)
I love you, Lord
(Take joy my King)
(Take joy my King)
I love you, Lord
(I love you, Lord)
I love you, Lord
(Let it be a sweet, sweet sound)
Words and music by Laurie B. Klein
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Words: William R. Featherstone, 1864; Featherstone was only 16 years old at the time!!!!!!
Music: Gordon Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876
My Jesus I Love Thee,
The Song and the Story
William Ralph Featherstone Writes a Legacy of Love that Becomes My Jesus I Love Thee
The lives of most people are not captured in the history books. Memories are left to the hearts and minds of family and friends, and then all too soon fade into the tapestry of times past. And so it was with William Ralph Featherstone. He was born without fanfare on July 24, 1846, in Montreal Canada, and he died in the same city, just before his 27th birthday. Little else is known of his short life except for the fact that some time during his 16th year of life William put pen to paper to record a love poem. The love he expressed was deep and true. The words of that poem have lasted more than a century beyond Featherstone’s life and death.
In 1876, three years after Featherstone’s passing, Adoniram Gordon put music to this love poem and added it to a hymnal which was published that same year. Featherstone’s poem My Jesus I Love Thee has since been recorded in most evangelical hymnals of the past 130 years, and is loved and sung by millions of Christians yet today.
Psalm 116:1
I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
sage
Friday Proverb – What Comes After the Church is Taken?
Perhaps not many view the Proverbs and Psalms as being prophetic. After so many decades of Bible study, I see Prophecy in almost every line of the Bible. As is understood, the Lord reveals things to us in stages. Most often, Old Testament events and poetry, describe an actual event such as Passover – which is a picture of something far more dramatic in the future. Such is the case with this Proverb. At face value, it does not seem to reveal much to the casual reader – but we are here to see what it really says.
Proverbs 11:8
The righteous is delivered out of trouble,
Only those who are truly born-again of the Holy Spirit of God, will be delivered – because only the truly born-again – are considered righteous. When we repent, and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we obtain His righteousness – which guarantees our deliverance. None of the troubles, trials and tribulations of this present life and time, can compare to the Great Tribulation, and the judgments that will befall everyone on earth at that time.
Please do not allow the recent crop of preterists to worm their way into your faith in the deliverance promised to you by God in His Holy Book. It is described over and over again – even in this short Proverb. Every Word of the King James Bible is true – and you can trust it implicitly. Read it literally, and with faith.
and the wicked cometh in his stead.
That’s right. As soon as the church is taken up – The Wicked One will swoop in. Just as a vacuum needs to be filled – this will happen in such a way – that it will not be readily apparent to those who are not alert. Since mankind always seeks to worship something or someone they can see, it will happen all too easily. The Holy Spirit that is indwelling believers here on earth, will leave along with the righteous that are being delivered. Once this happens, the only thing that was restraining the power of anti-christ will be gone! It will happen, but, we will NOT BE HERE TO SEE IT!
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.
sage
For the Lord’s Day – We Shall Behold Him
The sky shall unfold
Preparing His entrance
The stars shall applaud Him
With thunders of praise
The sweet light in His eyes
Shall enhance those awaiting
And we shall behold Him
Then face to face
O, we shall behold Him
We shall behold Him
Face to face in all of His glory
O, we shall behold Him
Yes, we shall behold Him
Face to face, our Savior and Lord
The angel shall sound
The shout of His coming
And the sleeping shall rise
From their slumbering place
And those who remain
Shall be changed in a moment
And we shall behold Him
Then face to face
We shall behold Him
O yes we shall behold Him
Face to face in all of His glory
We shall behold Him
Yes, we shall behold Him
Face to face
Our Savior and Lord
And we shall behold Him
Our Savior and Lord
Savior and Lord
Southern Gospel legend Dottie Rambo died on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008 when her tour bus ran off the highway and struck an embankment in Missouri. Dottie was on her way to North Richland Hills, Texas to perform a Mother’s Day show with Lulu Roman & Naomi Sego. Dottie was 74 at the time of her death and had spent 62 years of her life writing music and singing about her Savior.
Seven other people on the bus, including her manager Larry Ferguson and his wife and two children, were injured in the accident. They were hospitalized in Springfield, Missouri with moderate to severe injuries, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Representatives from her recording label confirmed that Dottie was asleep at the time of the accident.
Dottie Rambo, born Joyce Reba Lutrell in Madison, Kentucky on March 2, 1934, started writing songs at the age of 8 while sitting by a creek near her family home. By age 10 she was playing guitar and singing on local country radio. Her father dreamed of the day that young Dottie become a singer on Nashville’s WSM Grand Ole Opry. When Dottie gave her life to Christ at the age of 12, changing her path from country music to gospel, her father did not agree with the decision, fearing that she would spend her life singing in backwood churches for little or no pay. He gave her an ultimatum; either stop the Christian singing or leave his house. Dottie chose the path that Christ had laid in front of her and was taken to the bus stop by her mother with all of her belongings in a cardboard suitcase and her name and address on a tag around her neck in case she got lost.
By the 1950s she had married Buck Rambo and had her daughter, Reba. Dottie and Buck traveled across the region singing her songs in small churches. Other gospel groups, like the Happy Goodman Family, heard her songs and started singing them. The then- governor of Louisiana, Jimmy Davis, heard her music and flew her and her family to the governor’s mansion so that she could sing her songs for him. Governor Davis paid Dottie to publish her songs and soon after, Warner Brothers Records signed Dottie and her group, The Gospel Echoes, to a two-record deal. When they wanted Dottie and her group to move to folk and start singing Rhythm and Blues, Dottie declined.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
sage
Friday Proverb – Deliverance and Direction
Proverbs 11:6
The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them:
Hmm. Easier said than done – right? Not really. Of course, it is nigh impossible if one relies on their own righteousness, but the Bible implicitly states in many places, that only God is righteous, and that we, miserable sinners that we are, may receive His righteousness through faith in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His perfect righteousness is given to us, by Grace.
Philippians 3:9
And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
We are delivered from death and judgment only by recognizing and accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. He saves us from eternal death in the Lake of Fire, and promises us an eternity with Him.
but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.
Just as naughty children never think they will be found out – the sinner in rebellion refuses to acknowledge what needs to be done. They willfully choose the darkness of this world, and the Proverb states they will be taken in their own naughtiness. Not the misdeeds of another – but their very own misdeeds. Sinners in rebellion will not be able to blame anyone (as is the popular trend today) because the Word says the blame will be squarely laid at their own feet.
In the universities and satanically controlled media, herculean effort is made to convince the lost that their condition is not sin and damnation, but that their misery is caused by others. Hence, the creation of the blame game. The evil one does not want man to repent, and he will do everything in his considerable power to cause the sinner to either kill themselves before they can get saved – or contrive to bedazzle the sinner with psychology and fleshly enticements. But God, in His mercy, has given us a narrow pathway of escape. . .
The Vine Vigil 
