A Tribute

Bible Reading:  John 11:33-40

Key Verse: Verse 36  – “Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!”

Key Words:  Behold how he loved him

An anonymous writer has given this beautiful tribute of love, which might equally apply to family love or to friendship:

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can’t help dimly seeing in my heart, and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far enough to find.  I love you because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life, not a tavern but a temple and out of the works of my every day, not a reproach but a song.  I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me happy.  You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a song.  You have done it just by being yourself.

 

                                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought:  Ture friends will help you build a “temple” of your life, not a tavern.

Love Isn't Soft

Bible Reading:  Ephesians 4:1-16

Key Verse: Verse 15 –“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

Key Words: But speaking the truth in love

Ephesians 4:15 lists the ability to speak “the truth in love” as one sign of Christian maturity.  This is a two-way street.  Because we love someone doesn’t keep us from telling them the truth, even when it hurts.  On the other hand, “telling it like it is” doesn’t require that we be mean in the way we say it.

This was illustrated at the Billy Graham Crusade in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the summer of 1970, attended by President and Mrs. Richard M. Nixon.  Who received the biggest ovation that night – the President or Billy?  Neither!  It was the seventy-year-old singer, actress, and TV personality, Ethel Waters.

 Here’s how it happened.  Demonstrators were chanting obscenities.  As Ethel stood to sing, she said to them, “I love you, children, but if I was over there where you are, I’d just smack you.  But I love you and I’d also give you a big hug and kiss and tell you so.”  The hecklers fell silent, and the rest of the 75,000 people in the University of Tennessee stadium gave their biggest ovation of the evening.  Ethel spoke the truth, but she spoke it in love.  This is surely the meaning of Ephesians 4:14-15, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro…but speaking the truth in love, may grow up….”

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought:  Christian love is to will the well-being of the whole being of every being.

Marriage and Love

Bible Reading:  Ephesians 5:18-33

Key Verse: Verse 28 – “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”

Key Words: so ought men to love their wives

The real key to a marriage’s success and longevity is love.

Young people often come to the marriage altar with a fairy-story idealism.  That is, they believe that once a person falls in love, he lives happily ever after!  But unfortunately, there is no money-back guarantee in marriage.  There is no proof of a happy ending.  Marriages may be made in heaven, but they must be lived on earth.

A marriage license is something like a fishing license.  It doesn’t guarantee success; it just legalizes the try!  Happiness is more likely when a bride and groom ask, “What can I give in this marriage?” rather than “What can I get from this marriage?”

 An engaged couple was nearing their wedding day.  The young man had a disfiguring scar from a childhood injury.  Neither had mentioned the blemish.  Thinking something should be said before they were married, he found the courage to ask his girlfriend how she felt about it.  She gave no answer, but simply reached over and kissed the scar.  It was her way of saying that she accepted him as he was, and that together they would build on life as it was, rather than life as it might be.

                                                                                                 Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: It’s always wise to remember that marriage is like a violin, once the music stops the strings are still attached.

No Price Too High

Bible Reading:  Song of Solomon 8:1-7

Key Verse: Verse 7 – “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”

Key Words: Many waters cannot quench love

Genuine love is selfless, sacrificial, and satisfying. 

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a touching story.  The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria.  The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath.  Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death.  Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, “Momma, kiss me!”  Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord.

 Real love forgets self. It knows no danger. It doesn’t count the cost.  The Scripture says, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

                                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: The best gifts are always tied with heart strings.

Love For Money, Part Two

Bible Reading:  Mark 12:38-44

Key Verse: Verse 44 – “For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

Key Words: She of her want did cast in all that she had

A miser, who never stopped worrying about the safety of his possessions, sold all his property and converted it into a huge lump of gold.  This he buried in a hole in the ground near his garden wall, and every morning he went to visit it and gloat over the size of it.

The miser’s strange behavior aroused the curiosity of the town thief.  Spying on the rich man from some bushes, the thief saw him place the lump of gold back in the hole and cover it up.  As soon as the miser’s back was turned, the thief went to the spot, dug up the gold, and took it away.

The next morning, when the miser went to gloat over his treasure, he found nothing but an empty hole.  He wept and tore his hair, and so loud were his lamentations that a neighbor came running to see what was the trouble.  As soon as he had learned the cause of it, he said comfortingly, “You are foolish to distress yourself over something that was buried in the earth.  Take a stone and put it in the hole, and think that it is your lump of gold.  You were never meant to use it anyway.  Therefore, it will do you just as much good to fondle a lump of granite as a lump of gold.”

This fable by Aesop has a very significant moral for every Christian: “The true value of money is not in its possession but in its use.”

 

Thought: The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all of our money.

Love For Money, Part One

Bible Reading: I Timothy 6:1-11

Key Verse: Verse 10 – “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Key Words: for the love of money is the root of all evil

When it comes to money, it should not shock us as to the extremes to which people will go to gain it and keep it.  Let me explain.

To gain it:  A teacher of second-graders said, "I'll give this five dollar bill to the student who can tell me who is the greatest person in the world."  One child said, “It’s George Washington.”  “No, he’s great, but not the greatest.”  Another said, “Abraham Lincoln.”  “No, he’s great, but not the greatest.”  Others suggested John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, etc.  A Jewish boy in the class raised his hand and said, “Jesus Christ.”  The teacher gave the child the five dollar bill, but said, “How is it that you, a Jewish boy, said ‘Jesus?’”  He said, “In my heart it is Moses, but business is business.”

To keep it: It's like the guy who told the preacher, "Preacher, I'm going to gamble, but if I win, I'll give it to the church."  Now this man had been really sick.  So sick that he thought he was dying.  He was gambling because he was hoping in his last days to win money to enjoy the remainder of his life.  Well, he did win.  He won big.  But he also got better.  The preacher said, “What happened to the money you said you’d give to the church?”  The man said, “Now, you know how sick I was.  I was too sick to comprehend what I was saying!”

As you can see from these two illustrations, money – love for it can make us compromise on what we believe and lie about our commitment.  What a shame!

 

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Money is like sea water, the more you drink it, the thirstier 
you get.

I Love Christmas

Bible Reading:  Luke 2:1-20

Key Verse: Verse 10 – “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

Key Words: good tidings of great joy

I love the Christmas season, don’t you?  But there is one aspect of the season that concerns me; and that is those born-again believers who say they love God, but yet they take God’s money (their tithes and offerings) and purchase some, if not all, their Christmas gifts.

Did you know that many years ago the Puritans thought that people were ruining Christmas with all their pagan rituals.  They especially objected to the fact that the holiday usually came on a weekday, therefore distracting people, they thought, from the Lord's Day of Sunday.  But they did more than annually complain about it as we do.  They took action and got rid of Christmas altogether.  In Puritan settlements across 17th century America, a law was passed outlawing the celebration of Christmas.  The marketplace was ordered to stay open for business as though it were no special occasion and all violators were prosecuted. It was against the law to make plum pudding on December 25th.  The celebration was not referred to as Yuletide but as “fooltide.” 

So we want to reform Christmas and clean it up, do we?  Well, is this how far we want to go?  Do we really want to be rid of it altogether?  Then will Christmas, as the Puritans thought, be saved from us and our sinful ways?  So what if we spend $40 billion annually on presents?  Can you think of a better way of spending all that money than on gifts of love?  And most of them are just that.  And so what if all the lights and tinsel do create a fairy tale setting that soon disappears with the so-called Christmas spirit?  At least it lets us know, if only for a brief time, what life can be like if we only focus on Christ and others.

Let the message ring out, not that we are destroying this special day, but rather, that we can never destroy this day.  Luke 2:10, “behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

So to each of you...Merry Christmas!  And don’t forget it’s all God’s money anyway, use it wisely.

 

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Christ was content with a stable when He was born so we 
could have a mansion when we die.

His Love For Her

Bible Reading:  Genesis 29:9-20

Key Verse: Verse 20 – “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.”

Key Words: for the love he had to her

A teenage girl, returning from an early date, found her mother still sitting up reading.  "Mom," she said, sprawling in a chair, "how do you tell if you're really in love?"

 Her mother smiled, walked over to the desk, pulled a weathered clipping out of the drawer, and handed it to her daughter.  It read: “True love is like two deep rivers that meet and merge, intertwining completely into one, then flowing on together.  The joys, happiness, and sorrows of each become the joys, happiness, and sorrows of the other.  True love cannot be hurried, but once unselfishly rooted, it will grow forever.”

                                 Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought:    Silence when your words would hurt,

                    Patience when your neighbor’s curt.
                    Deafness when the scandal flows,
                    Thoughtfulness for another’s woes.
                    Promptness when a stern duty calls,
                    Courage when misfortune falls.
                                                ~ Author Unknown

Do Unto Others

Bible Reading:  Matthew 7:7-12

Key Verse: Verse 12 – “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Key Words: do ye even so to them 

A Hindu manufacturer told Stanley Jones why he had come to one of his meetings.  “Years ago when I was a boy we heckled a missionary preaching in the bazaar – threw tomatoes at him.  He wiped off the tomato juice from his face and then after the meeting took us to the sweet shop and bought us sweets.  I saw the love of Christ that day, and that’s why I’m here.”

Slow to suspect – quick to trust.

Slow to condemn – quick to justify.

Slow to offend – quick to defend.

Slow to expose – quick to shield.

Slow to reprimand – quick to forbear.

Slow to demand – quick to give.

Slow to provoke – quick to conciliate.

Slow to hinder – quick to help.

Slow to resent – quick to forgive.

                                                                                         Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Love cannot be wasted.  It makes no difference where it is bestowed, it always brings in big returns.

Love Is The Indicator

Bible Reading:  I John 4:11-21

Key Verse: Verse 20 – “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

Key Words: a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar

Our fellowship with God is validated or invalidated by our love for others.

When I was in elementary school the classroom had radiators in them.  These radiators had hot water in them and they produced steam and that’s how our room was warmed.  In the “good ole days” you would turn the knob up to get more steam or turn it down to reduce the amount of steam.

Well, I got to know a janitor there—we just kind of became friends—and he invited me one time to the boiler room.  The boiler room was where all the mechanics were to produce all the hot water for all the rooms and the radiators in the rooms.  I’ll never forget the sight of this gargantuan tank in the middle of the room.  When I asked about the huge cylinder, the janitor told me that the water for heating the classrooms got boiled in there.

I happened to notice that on the side of this humongous tank a little tiny cylinder hung in place.  There was a little line on it with water going up to the line.  The janitor explained to me that it was an indicator that showed how much water was in the tank. Because the tank itself was too hot to inspect firsthand, the indicator was in place to show what was going on inside the tank and whether or not the water was at the appropriate heat to warm the building.

Many people come to church looking to feel God in their bones, and feel Him in their feet, and feel Him all over, but that feeling is not the true indicator that God looks at to measure how full of Him we are.  His indicator is our love for one another.  Love for other brothers and sisters is proof positive or proof negative of our love or lack thereof for God.

 

                                                                                                   Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Love for others is an indicator of our love for God.

The Mouth Of The Lion

Bible Reading:  Hosea 5:8-15

Key Verse: Verse 12– “Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.”

Key Words: will I be unto Ephraim as a moth

Donald Greyhouse shares the story of God’s love found in Hosea 5.

“There is a beautiful picture in one of the Old Testament prophets that shows how God is for us, even in the hard things which He must bring upon us.  After speaking of the sin of Israel that took that nation away from Him, God says, ‘Therefore, will I be unto Ephraim as a moth…’ (Hosea 5:12).  Some little insect comes into life and nests among the things we value.   Suddenly we realize that corruption is there.  God means this for a sign that will cause us to turn to Him immediately.  If we accept the work of the moth and return to God, He will restore to us all that He has taken away.

“But suppose men do not turn to God when He sends His insect-troubles?  Two verses later He gives another word which is more terrible: ‘I will be unto Ephraim as a lion...’ (5:14).  This is the progress of God’s love.  He will not let us lose ourselves without exhausting all of the resources of His love.  The moth may have eaten valuable possessions, but we can turn the rug around, we can put the couch against a wall where the ravages cannot be seen, we can move a lamp so that the light will not shine upon the destruction.  Then He is forced to send the lion.  With no warning at all, great trouble springs upon us like a beast of prey.  Fear grips us.  Our blood runs cold.  Happy are we, if we realize that this is the Lord of love, who calls us to turn from the path where lions lurk and to run to the path of His will where no enemy can assail us.

“Thousands of people, however, have had the moth and the lion and have not been moved by them.  God is forced to hide His face from them.  They are left, perhaps in unconcern, perhaps in restless and uneasy worry, but in it all, God is being good to them, showing Himself for them by holding the door of salvation open, and calling them to Himself.”

 

                                                                                                   Dr. Mike Rouse                                              

Thought: Most men are brave when it comes to dealing with a moth, but not so brave at facing a lion.

I Love Them All

Bible Reading:  John 3:16-21

Key Verse: Verse 16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Key Words: For God so loved the world

When the Bible speaks of the world, it generally is speaking of one of three things.  The world system (I John 5:4), the material world (I John 2:15), and the people of the world (John 3:16).  So the Lord says He loved the world, all the people of the world; that includes you, and it includes me.

More than 50 years ago at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a young sociology professor assigned his class to a city slum to interview 200 boys.  They were instructed to predict the boys’ futures on the basis of their findings.

Shocked at what they found in the slums, the students estimated that 90 percent of the boys interviewed would someday serve time in prison.

Twenty-five years passed.  The same professor asked another class to try to locate the survivors of the 200 boys and compare what had happened.  Of 180 of the original boys located, only four had ever been to jail.

Why had the predictions not turned out?  A common denominator was sought in their lives, some value or influence that may have marked the difference.  Through more interviews, it was found that over 100 of the men remembered having the same high-school teacher, a Miss O’Rourke, who had been a tremendous influence on them at the time.  After a long search, Sheila O’Rourke was found in a nursing home in Memphis, now 70 years old.  When asked for her explanation, she was puzzled. “All I can say,” she concluded, “is that I loved every one of them.”

Just as Miss O’Rourke’s love changed these boys, God’s love can change the world.

 

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: If we want to change the world, let others see Jesus in us.

The Constraining Love

Bible Reading: II Corinthians 5:14-21

Key Verse: Verse 14 – “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:”

Key Words: For the love of Christ constraineth us

Hudson Taylor was examining some young people who had volunteered for the mission field.  He wanted to ascertain their qualifications for the arduous life toward which they were looking.  “And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?” he asked one.  “I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” was the reply.  Another said, “I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ, not having even heard of the One Name whereby the lost may be saved.”  Others gave various answers.  Then Hudson Taylor said, “All of these motives, howsoever good, will fail you in times of testings, trials, tribulations, and possibly death.  There is but ONE MOTIVE which will sustain you in trial and testing, namely, ‘For the LOVE OF CHRIST constraineth us.’ (II Corinthians 5:14a).”

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Love cures people, both the ones who give it and the ones 
who receive it.

The Saddest Word

Bible Reading:  Psalm 14

Key Verse: Verse 1 – “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”

Key Words: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God

A writer polled several famous people asking them their selection for the saddest word in the English language.  T. S. Eliot: “The saddest word in the English language is, of course, ‘saddest.’”  Oscar Hammerstein II: “but.”  John D. Pessor quoted Keats: “Forlorn! The very word is like a bell.”  Karl Menninger, the psychiatrist: “Unloved.”  Bernard M. Baruch: “Hopeless.”  Balanchine, the choreographer: “The saddest word in any language is ‘vacuum.’”  Truman quoted Whittier: “For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”  Tolstoy: “The saddest word in all languages, which has brought the world to its present condition is ‘atheism.’”

Combine all these and we have the picture of the soul out of Christ.  He goes on his way to the vacuum of outer darkness, hopeless and forlorn, because having accepted the atheism which exalts himself to the place of God, he refuses to admit that he is loved by God, “but” goes to the saddest extremity of defiance against God.

 

                                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse
Thought: An atheist said, “If there is a God, may he prove himself by striking me dead right now.”  Nothing happened.  “You see, there is no God.”  Another responded, “You’ve not proven there is no God; you’ve only proven that He is a gracious God.”

What Love Does

Bible Reading:  I Peter 4:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 8 – “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

Key Words: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins

When Alexander the Great became a world conqueror, he decided to have his portrait painted in oils.  The finest artist in the realm was called to produce a masterpiece.  When he arrived at Alexander’s court, the renowned general requested that the portrait be a full-face pose instead of a profile.  This filled the artist with great distress, for one side of Alexander’s face was hideously disfigured by a long scar – the result of his battle wound.

After studying his subject for some time, the painter came up with a happy solution. First he seated Alexander at a table; then, placing the general’s elbow on it, he asked him to cup his chin in his hand.  As a final thoughtful gesture, the artist adjusted Alexander’s fingers so that they covered his unsightly scar.  Then he went to work with paint and brushes and produced a flattering likeness of the general.

In much the same way, Christian love will overlook or seek to minimize the faults and shortcomings of others.

 

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Love is like a smile; neither have any value unless given 
away.

Herein Is Love

Bible Reading: I John 4:1-10

Key Verse: Verse  10 – “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Key Words: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us

The Gospel Herald records the following story.

“A gentleman who was a professed Christian was taken seriously ill.  He became troubled about the little love he felt in his heart for God, and spoke of his experience to a friend.  This is how the friend answered him.

“When I go home from here, I expect to take my baby on my knee, look into her sweet eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and tired as I am, her presence will rest me for I love that child with unutterable tenderness.  But she loves me little.  If my heart were breaking it would not disturb her sleep.  If my body were racked with pain, it would not interrupt her play.  If I were dead, she would forget me in a few days.  Besides this, she had never brought me a penny, but was a constant expense to me.  I am not rich, but there is not money enough in the world to buy my baby.  How is it?  Does she love me, or do I love her?  Do I withhold my love until I know she loves me?  Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it?

“This practical illustration of the love of God for His children caused the tears to roll down the sick man’s face.  ‘Oh, I see,’ he exclaimed, ‘it is not my love to God, but God’s love for me, that I should be thinking of.  And I do love Him now as I never loved Him before.”’

 

                                                                                           Dr. Mike Rouse                                                                                     

Thought: Joy is love’s music; peace is love’s agreement; longsuffering is love’s 
endurance; kindness is love’s service; goodness is love’s deportment; faithfulness is love’s measure.

Walk In Love

Bible Reading:  Ephesians 5:1-10

Key Verse: Verse 2– “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”

Key Words: walk in love

The word walk means to occupy yourself with; it is how you conduct yourself, your conduct.  So wherever I go, people should see by my walk (conduct) that I love the Lord.

Some time back Tony Evans wrote, “Many people after our services on Sunday line up to get a CD of the message. When I speak on Sunday mornings, the messages are taped and made available for purchase when the service is over.  People each week line up to get the CD.  What they get is a copy of the master.  There is a master CD that holds the original recording; then there are the copies that are made available to people who want to listen to the sermon again or share it with someone else.  All that people can purchase are the replicas.  The replicas of the master sound like the master, and feel like the master, but they are not the master.  However, they are so much like the master, it’s as good as having the master itself.

Jesus is the Master, but what He wants to do is copy Himself onto His followers, so that when people see you or me, they are getting a recording of the Master, as we are committed to following our Master who has all authority.  This is the essence of discipleship.

 

                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse                                                   

Thought: Your walk talks and your talk talks but your walk talks 
louder than your talk talks.

Loving To Give

Bible Reading:  II Corinthians 9:1-7

Key Verse: Verse 7 – “ Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Key Words: God loveth a cheerful giver

The word purposeth carries the idea of prioritizing.  So I put all things in the order of importance to me and I give accordingly.  So the question is, Where does God rank according to your giving?

One day a man was lost in a desert without water, but he saw an old shack.  He was dying of thirst.  He knew he didn’t have much longer so he painfully made his way to the shack.  Inside the shack was a little jar of crystal clear water set on the floor next to a pump.  Flooded with relief, he walked over to the jar to quench his overbearing thirst.  As he reached down to pick up the jar of water, he noticed a sign.  The sign said “Use this water to prime the pump outback.  When you are satisfied, refill it and leave it for the next person who will pass this way.”

He found himself on the horns of a dilemma because he was so very thirsty.  What if he followed the directions on the sign and there was no water in the well?  He had to make a decision to either serve himself now, or invest and take the chance that deep down there was so much more.

 Giving is a method of priming the pump of God’s blessing in the life of a believer.  You have a choice.  You can take the little that God has given you now and consume it for yourself.  Or you can use it to prime something that’s got so much more.  It all boils down to whether you believe there’s something more in the well.... So what will you do, prime the pump or take what you’ve got and run?  A lot depends upon what your real purpose in life is!!

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Priorities in life are revealed by what makes us happy.

Two Loves

Bible Reading:  Matthew 6:24 - 34

Key Verse: Verse 24 – “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Key Words: hate the one, and love the other

You can’t have two masters in your life.  You can only be loyal to one.  The question is, which one?  Trying to be loyal to two masters always ends with terrible results.

The conflict between two masters is seen in the story of the middle-aged man who seriously courted two women at the same time.  This is not a good idea at all.  This man’s hair had begun to turn gray.  One of the women he was courting was young, and the other was well-advanced in years.  The elder woman, ashamed to be courted by a man younger than herself, made a point, whenever her admirer visited her, to pull out some portion of his black hair.  The younger woman, on the contrary, not wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in removing every gray hair she could find on his head.  Thus, it came to pass that between them both, he soon found that he had not a hair left on his head.  The lesson here is if you court two women at the same time, you’ll get scalped!  In a nutshell the idea is you cannot serve or devote yourself to two different loves or lords.

                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: Divided loyalty in the end equals loneliness.

Loving The Good

Bible Reading:  Amos 5:1-20

Key Verse: Verse 15 – “Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”

Key Words: love the good

“Amos writes about the fact that man in that day knew he could not get justice, and many good people were keeping quiet.  It was the prudent thing to do because, if he had attempted to protest, it wouldn’t have done him a bit of good.  The tragedy of the hour in which we live is that we talk about the freedom of the press, the freedom of religion, and the freedom of speech; but there is not much of it left.  The news media has definitely become a brain-washing agency.  It is true that only he who has money can get a public hearing today.  As a result, we do have a silent majority in our country because they know that their voices would not amount to anything at all.  We are in a tragic day, very much like the day to which Israel had come. “    ~ J. Vernon McGee

 So God tells Israel, “Seek good, and not evil…Hate the evil, and love the good.”  In other words, do right, live right, love right.  Do all for the glory of God!

                                                                                              Dr. Mike Rouse

                                                                         

Thought: One can’t love the good without hating the evil, nor can 
they hate the good without loving the evil!!

The Love Of A Friend

Bible Reading: I Samuel 19

Key Verse: Verse 4– “And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:”

Key Words: And Jonathan spake good of David

To me one of the most touching stories in God’s Word is man’s friendship with man.  To me there is no closer friendship between two men than Jonathan and David.

I came across an article in Bits and Pieces written by C. Raymond Beran that pretty much describes true friendship.

What is a friend?  Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself.  Your soul can be naked with them.  They ask you to put on nothing, only to be what you are.  They do not want you to be better or worse.  When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent.  You do not have to be on guard.  You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you.  Friends understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you.  With them you breathe freely.  You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meanness and absurdities, and in opening them up to friends, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of their loyalty.  They understand.  You do not have to be careful.  You can abuse them, neglect them, tolerate them.  Best of all, you can keep still with them.  It makes no matter.  They like you.  They are like fire that purges to the bone.  They understand.  You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them, pray with them.  Through it all--and underneath-- they see, know and love you.  A friend?  What is a friend?  Just one I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.

 

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought:. A friend is like good health, you don’t fully realize what a 
gift they are until you lose them.

The Law of Love, Part Two

Bible Reading: John 15:1-14

Key Verse: Verse 12 – “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

Key Words: This is my commandment, That ye love one another

There was a pastor who was impressing upon the congregation that we are not under the law when we are in Christ; but we are under a new law, the law of love.

He used this to illustrate: In America there is a law stating a woman must take care of her child.  So, a man comes to a new mother's home.  He says "Are you taking care of your baby? The Law says you have to."  The woman, tenderly holding her baby, said, "I don't need a law to make me take care of my baby."  Why? Because she loves her baby! She feeds him, holds him, changes him because she loves him. 

I no longer need the Law because I'm under Christ -- a law of LOVE.  I was once asked if I thought I had “dying grace”… to which I replied, “Right now, I don’t need dying grace; but I do need the grace of Christ to love the unlovable and those who refuse to love me!”

 

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: The law of love may not change the world but it will 
change you

The Law Of Love, Part One

Bible Reading:  John 13:31-38

Key Verse: Verse 34 – “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Key Words: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another

You can’t demand that people love one another.  Loving others is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

The Roman historian Tertullian wrote that the Roman government was disturbed that the early church Christians were increasing in number by leaps and bounds.  Because they wouldn’t take even a pinch of incense and put it before the image of the emperor, the Romans felt they might be disloyal.  Spies went into the Christian gatherings and came back with a report something like this:  “These Christians are very strange people.  They meet together in an empty room to worship. They do not have an image.  They speak of One by the name of Jesus, who is absent, but whom they seem to be expecting at any time. And my, how they love Him and how they love one another.”

Now, if spies came from an atheistic government to see whether Christianity is genuine and they came to your church, what would be the verdict?  Would they go back and report how these Christians love one another?

 

                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

Thought: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
have love one to another.”