Quote from Forum Archives on January 31, 2009, 12:20 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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Celebrating 10 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 143 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

01.30.09

God Lovers

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment." - Matthew
22:36-38.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you. - Matthew 6:33.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the
Father but is of the world. - 1 John 2:14-15.

Sunday night is the Super Bowl in football and we all know where we will be
Sunday night. We will be watching football, the glitter of the halftime
show, and all of those million dollar commercials. Now, a few of you are
thinking, ".not me, I'm going to be at church listening to my pastor preach
another wonderful sermon." Some of you pastors are thinking, ".not me, I'm
going to be preaching another sermon while that football game is being
played." You know, that football game does not matter to me at all. I don't
care who wins it. Of course, my favorite team is not playing this year!

Sometimes reality creeps into the picture when we are talking about loving
God, and we have to do more than just talk about it. Sometimes we have to
actually demonstrate our love for God. During the summer it may be that
instead of spending two days at the lake on the weekend that we just spend
one day so that we can attend church on Sunday. During a basketball season,
we may have to make a stand and on Wednesday nights attend church even
though there is a basketball tournament planned for that night. Instead of
taking off for a weekend of hunting maybe one day would be enough so that we
can still be in church on Sunday. In the past schools and other programs
would not dare to plan an activity on a Sunday or a Wednesday that would
conflict with church services. Those days are long past because very few
people wanted to demonstrate their actual love for God by making the choice
to attend church instead of those other activities.

Those choices and demonstration of love for God pale in comparison to the
demonstrations that many have had to make in the past and still make today.
In the roll call of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 we read at the end
of the chapter, "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they
might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and
scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens
and caves of the earth (Hebrews 11:35-38)." Many still today have to
demonstrate their faith in ways that result sometimes in their torture or
even death. Persecution dot org states that there are some 200 million
Christians who suffer for their faith every day.

Do you really love God? Or, do you just talk about it?

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

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Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
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You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
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