We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Few women realize what great service they are doing for mankind and for the kingdom of Christ when they provide a shelter for the family and good mothering - the foundation on which all else is built. A mother builds something far more magnificent than any cathedral - the dwelling place for an immortal soul (both her child’s fleshly tabernacle and his earthly abode). No professional pursuit so uniquely combines the most menial tasks with the most meaningful opportunities. It is hard to locate an aging mother who believes she made a mistake of pouring her life into her children, and it would certainly be more difficult to find a child to testify that his mother loved him and poured herself into his life to his detriment and demise. Homemaking - being a full-time wife and mother - is not a destructive drought of usefulness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary call to contain one’s talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work; it is not a rope for binding one’s productivity in the marketplace, but reins for guiding one’s posterity in the home; it is not oppressive restraint of intellectual prowess for the community, but a release of wise instruction to your own household; it is not the bitter assignment of inferiority to your person, but the bright assurance of the ingenuity of God’s plan for complementarity of the sexes, especially as worked out in God’s plan for marriage; it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother’s legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care (Dorothy Patterson).

Other Authors

When church discipline is being carried out properly there are several additional attendant responsibilities: 1. Confidentiality. At every step the matter is to be kept confidential at that level. For example, in step two the only parties who are to know about the matter are the individuals bringing the charge and the witnesses. This is vital. Violating this principle can cause great damage. 2. The sin being confronted must clearly be a sin, not some vague complaint or personal preference. There must be a clear violation of a biblical command or principle. 3. One must always approach a brother who is in sin with true humility and love (Galatians 6:1-5). To approach one with a spirit of pride is both unbiblical and counter-productive. 4. The church must be consistent and show no partiality in carrying out church discipline. Each member must be treated equally with complete fidelity to the Word of God. 5. Earnest prayer should attend every step. God is the one who grants repentance and He must be approached regularly. 6. Disclosing lurid details of sins is not helpful and is often very destructive to both the charged brother and the church body. Great care should be taken in the public disclosure of such matters. 7. The entire church is to be involved in the final steps, the urging of repentance and if there is no repentance, the actual discipline process. It does no good for the church to finally withdraw fellowship from the person if many of the individual members continue to fellowship with him as if nothing had occurred. 8. Forgiveness should be immediate when the brother repents. Full restoration should take place when the matter has been cleared up. If the discipline process has been public, the forgiveness and restoration must also be a public matter. The whole church can then express the wonderful joy of seeing the process work and a brother restored. (In a case where church leaders have fallen, restoration to an office may take some time for trust in them to be restored. In some situations, a leader may never be placed back into a position of leadership). 9. Church discipline is very seriously frowned upon and often criticized or made fun of, not only by the public but also by a number of evangelical churches. Yet, it is Christ’s command to His church. Our allegiance should be to the Sovereign One over our church body – Christ. We must be zealous to carry out His commands rather than fearing criticism by those who are not aware of these biblical responsibilities or by those who simply ignore them. 10. Finally, it should be clearly taught that the immediate purpose is to recover our sinning brother, but that is not the only intent. A church that practices church discipline demonstrates to the world its desire for holiness. It is also a deterrent to sin among the remaining members and it brings glory to the Head of the church – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Curtis Thomas

We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Cinnamon Flavored Candied Apples

January 22, 2023

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
		Candies	12	Servings

INGREDIENTS

12		Red apples
1	c	White corn syrup
1	c	Sugar
4		To 6 drops cinnamon oil
		Red food coloring, enough to make a nice red

INSTRUCTIONS

Stick skewers into clean red apples.  Combine in heavy saucepan, sugar,
syrup and cinnamon oil and cook over low heat. Stir until dissolved. Turn
to medium heat and do not stir. Cook to 248 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Stir in coloring.  Place pan over boiling water while twirling one apple at
at time in mixture. Twirl once and then set it up and twirl apple again.
Place on buttered pan or foil and store in refrigerator.
Courtesy of: Joann Pierce
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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