Created for Fellowship

Years ago, I used to meet a group of guys at six every Saturday morning to play golf.  I didn’t have any children in those days.  I can barely remember life before children…


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Inspiration

There are two big inspirations that I draw from funeral services.  I either leave the service inspired by the person’s lack of accomplishments in life – and I leave wanting to do better, or I leave the service inspired by the person’s accomplishments in life, and I leave wanting to do similarly.


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The Endless Pursuit

I recently became enamored with a new song.  It’s a folk song.  Those style of songs are the ones I have most naturally gravitated towards in the last ten years or so. When I find a new song that I like, I listen to it to absolute death.

In the newest song I like, there’s a really neat, meaningful word progression. The singer is reflecting back on his life and begins with the phrase:


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A Regular, Favorite Practice

 

One of my regular, favorite practices is to read great quotes from my heroes in the faith. 

Here’s some quotes by “The Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, on various topics, in no particular order- Enjoy!


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Avoid Stereotypes

The dictionary defines stereotype as: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

How do stereotypes come about?  They are typically the result of a singular experience.  For instance, my first experience with a person from the country of Honduras wasn’t great.  It was a grumpy person at the Honduras airport.


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Saved for Service

One of my hobby horses is to preach that we are saved for the purpose of doing good works.  That it’s not good works that save us, but rather, that we have been saved FOR good works.

I’ve said it so often that even I recognize that I say it often, which, believe me, is saying something because I typically retell stories because I can’t remember that I’ve told them already.


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An Outstanding VBS!

Praise the Lord for a wonderful VBS this year.  We exceeded our number of children from last year with our biggest night having 74 children in attendance.

In addition to the 74 children, we also had 46 adults for a total of 120.


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It Begins with Desire

When it comes to following Jesus, sometimes all we can see before our eyes is obstacles.  If this is your experience, don’t be discouraged, it’s the experience of all who have desired to follow Him.

There have been many times in my own life that I’ve wanted to be more involved with the activities of the church in my personal pursuit of following Christ, but it seemed that everywhere I turned, there was only more and more complications.


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No Shortcuts

There are few things in life as satisfying as finding a great shortcut.  We enjoy shortcuts so much, we try to find them for everything possible.

With things like driving and cooking, shortcuts can be great, but are they great for everything?  No. As a matter of fact, they’re not.

Shortcuts are great for things that are not personal or too complex.  When it comes to matters of the heart, or complex challenges, there are no shortcuts to meaningful solutions.


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Mid-Year Resolutions

Can you believe we’ve reached the middle of the year?  It’s such an interesting thing to me that only when I was a child did time seemingly go by agonizingly slow.
 

From around the age of 18 until now, time seemingly did the opposite and has appeared to have flown past me.

Of course, it’s all bunk.  Time goes by at the same speed always but it feels slower or faster depending upon our current level of enjoyment.

I don’t mind that time seems to be going fast for me.  It’s simply an indicator that I’m enjoying the ride.  And to that end, I recommend a mid-year resolution to aid you in your pleasure in this life.

Some followers of Jesus mistakenly believe that we shouldn’t enjoy life too much, but that’s just a skewed way of thinking. 

God wants us to be happy, though we have to be careful with a statement like that, it must be qualified. 

Many hear the statement, “God wants you to be happy,” and interprets the statement to mean that God is ok with me doing whatever pleases me.

The truth of the matter is that God wants you to be happy, but never at the expense of holiness. 

Again, many errantly believe that to live a holy life is to live a life of bitter deprivation, but one only lives a life of bitter deprivation if their hearts desires are sinful.

Sinful desires only bring about the same result that sin itself brings, death.  Romans 6:23 says, 23 For the wages of sin is death…

While it is true that all who sin will ultimately die a physical death, being a slave to sinful desires leads to something much worse, spiritual death.  So what’s the solution?  The solution is to find true peace, joy, contentment and happiness in the ways of God and in God Himself.

In Jonathan Edwards famous Resolutions, his first resolution was this: “…I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration…”

This is a great resolution.  Why?  Because whatever I can do that is most to God’s glory will result in my own good, profit and pleasure.  The more we live for Him, the more true pleasure, the more true happiness we’ll experience in this life and then ultimately in the life to come.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not in any way saying that living for God’s glory will earn my salvation.  Salvation cannot be earned, only received as a gift from God.

What I’m saying is that if you want to be truly happy in this life, you’ll live for God’s glory as much as possible.  Most people believe that the only way to obtain happiness is to pursue happiness.  The truth is that the only way to obtain true happiness is not to pursue happiness, but to pursue the Lord.  In His goodness, He’s made happiness to follow.  Don’t believe me?  Try it and see.

Much love!

Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com


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