Quote from Forum Archives on June 9, 2004, 11:35 am

Posted by: ba <ba@...>

Forthright Magazine
www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross

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Stan Mitchell grew up in Zimbabwe and later worked
there for 10 years. He preaches in the Texas
Panhandle and today begins writing for Forthright.
Please welcome Stan to our team. You can comment
and read more about Stan online.
www.forthright.net
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COLUMN: Reality Check

Persistance
by Stan Mitchell

It must not have been easy for the snails to make
it to Noah's ark. Cheetahs and gazelles and
practically every other creature, too, were faster
than they, and they must have been in constant
danger of being crushed by an elephant or hippo
along the way. So how did they get on the ark?

"You know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so
that you may be mature and complete, not lacking
anything" (James 1:3,4).

One time Winston Churchill was asked, "What
experience in school helped most to prepare you to
lead Britain in her darkest hour?"

He thought about it for a moment, then replied:
"It was the two years I spent in the same grade in
high school"

"Did you fail?"

"No," Churchill replied, "I had two opportunities
to get it right." What Great Britain needed in
those dark days was not brilliance but
persistence.

Of course Churchill was famous on another occasion
for urging his listeners to "never, never, never
give up." We invariably learn more by failing than
by succeeding, if we are open to the lessons of
failure, and if we don't give up.

Don't give up on your marriage; don't give up on
your church; don't give up on God; don't give up
on yourself!

So how did the snail make it on the ark? Simple.
By persistence!

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Read this article online, tell us what you think,
see who's commenting, click here:
forthright.antville.org/stories/812942/
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COLUMN: Hands-on Faith

More Than A Second Chance - God's Grace
by Barry Newton

Perhaps you have read a book or heard a sermon
about the God who gives second chances. Scripture
is filled with stories about lives which had been
ruined in one way or another only to be picked up
out of the ashes by God. The hope of a second
chance strikes a resonant chord. We recognize that
our only hope is for a fresh start made possible
by God.

But just how good is the news of a second chance?
Is this really an accurate way to speak of God's
grace? After all, if you could not lift up 1000
pounds before, do you really want another
opportunity to prove you can do it? With a second
chance, the burden and responsibility still lies
upon you. If you could not live a sinless life
before, how well do you think you would do with a
second chance? We need God's grace to provide us
with much more than another shot at failure.

Through Jesus, God sees His people as being
blameless before Him, not because they were
finally able to master perfection but because they
receive what Jesus achieved, sinless perfection.
Through Jesus' death as a perfect and sinless
lamb, God extends to us what we could never
achieve on our own - blamelessness! Through His
grace, God has acted in a much greater way than
merely giving us a second chance. Through His Son,
God did it for us! Here is a message filled with
real hope for the whole world.

Footnote - While Scripture is clear that we can
not be good enough to merit salvation, Scripture
is equally forceful in asserting that God's people
have been charged to live in the light and to do
the good which God has prepared for them to do.
While salvation is made possible through Jesus,
the servant who is lazy and does not fulfill His
Master's will shall be cast out.

The life of the disciple is not "thanks for
salvation, now I'll do my own thing." The
Christian life is "thank you for saving me and
taking me to be your servant. Now I will do my
duty as an unworthy servant." What tremendous
grace God has given us that we might be called the
children of God! We do not deserve this.

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Read this article online, tell us what you think,
see who's commenting, click here:
forthright.antville.org/stories/809117/
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