Sign in the window of an English company: We have been established for over one hundred years and have been pleasing our displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of coal nationalization, coal rationing, government control, and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about, lied to, held up, robbed, and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next.
For a lot of people that is how life seems to be, what will happen next. I guess many people live by Murphy’s law and believe if something bad is going to happen, it will happen to them. But Christians operate under another principle and today I would like to give scriptures that give us encouragement for 2006.
The Christian’s Forecast for 2006
I. I Expect the Best---Philippians 1:20—my earnest expectation and hope is in that nothing will I be disappointed—KJ ashamed
· In a world that is constantly looking for the worst, I am expecting the best.
· God won’t let me down, the world may let me down, people may let me down, but God will lift me up.
· I expect to succeed in life, I expect to win, I expect the best.
Quote: "Unbelief puts our circumstance between us and God, but faith puts God
between us and our circumstances." F.B. Meyer
II. I will reach my goals—Philippians 3:13-14—forgetting those things behind, I press toward the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.
· Nothing in my past will keep me from my future.
· Forgetting—if God can forgive and forget my sin, so can I.
· Pressing—giving it all I have to obtain the prize.
Ill) Monarch butterflies, born all over the United States and Canada, all fly to Mexico, all arrive at the same place, none have ever made the trip before, but even with a 3000 mile trip, none of them gets lost, and they all arrive about the same time.
III. Faith Will See Me Through—Hebrews 11:1—substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. In the natural I will fail, in the natural I will come up empty, but in faith, I will receive all that God has promised me.
· Nothing is impossible for them that believe.
· Even though my natural eye can’t see it, my spiritual eyes can see it.
The just shall live by faith. God rewards them that diligently seek after Him.
IV. I Know Who Holds Tomorrow---Revelation 1:8—Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. In a world of uncertainty, there still is one thing that is certain.
· I don’t have to know everything about my tomorrows, I just have to know who holds tomorrow in His hands.
· He is already ahead of me.
Ill) in a bad storm at sea all the passengers were scared to death. The captain was above steering the ship against the mighty waves. One passenger climbed up on deck and looked up at the captain and all his fears were relieved. He reported back to the rest of the passengers, all is well. They asked, how do you know, he said, the captain smiled at me.
Close: many will face 2006 will a pessimistic attitude. Many will face this year with fear. But the Christian forecast is that everything is going to be all right.
We expect the best, we will reach our goals, faith will see us through, and we know who holds tomorrow. If we will live by faith, if we will stand on the Word of God, if we will trust the Master, we will have a great year.
It is all a matter of watering the right seeds.
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Stories Topic: Christian Values
This is a beautiful lesson written by Tiziana Ruff.Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!" There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he trusted his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kids laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey, nice try."When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor."Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow.All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!" From "In The Garden With Jesus," a children’s devotional written by Tiziana Ruff.
This year will be all right if we water the right seed.
May God bless you and give you the best year you have
Ever had in 2006.
