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Monday, September 12, 2016 Himself to us is through His word. The more You know God the more you’ll want to know Him. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13. Your faith will increase when you read His promises and the history of His faithfulness. Count your blessings and you will be grateful. The more your faith increases the more you will express that faith by listening to His word and obeying it. Obedience increases
Page #8 your love for Him. It’s a full circle of loving and being loved. “For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day,” John 6:40.
Everyone who says they “love” Jesus does not obey the commands He makes. In this politically correct society there are people and even churches that clearly ignore God’s Commandments yet call themselves Christians. This verse is clearly stating that you must first; accept His commandments and second; obey His commandments, “And BECAUSE you love Jesus AND obey His commandments, God the Father will love you.” Before you can truly believe in Jesus, you must believe He is who He says He is. You must first see Jesus as who He is, the Son of God and yet fully God Himself. You must recognize His works. He was born in flesh, was subject to all temptations from birth to adulthood yet never sinned. He spent His adult ministry speaking against sin with the love and truth of the gospel that saves. He paid the penalty for your sins…2,000 + years before you were born. And He knew if you would ignore or accept Him as Lord. He knew on the cross if you would love Him, curse Him, ignore Him or follow Him and he still chose to die for your sins.
not follow your old rules of doing, thinking and acting like the rest of this sinful world. You died to your old ways and followed the ways of Christ. Yes, Jesus came to save you but He came for more than that. If salvations from hell was His only goal then what’s the point of God leaving us in this sin filled world? Why aren’t we just taken to Heaven as soon as we’re saved? To understand your purpose on earth you need to understand Jesus’ purpose and ministry on earth. You will never have a deep desire to do that if you do not first believe Jesus is everything He says He is. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding, good judgment and insight” Proverbs 9:10. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit wants us to show honor and love by obedience. “Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome,” 1 John 5:3. You are not saved by your good works, we’re saved by grace. We obey because we are grateful. That being said, the lack of good works is a sure sign that love and the understanding of Lordship isn’t mature. God calls us His bride. The closest bond as humans is that of a man and wife. It requires full respect, honor, trust and putting no one, other than God, above our mate. Love is an action word. Saying that you love your spouse without respect, honor, trust and putting them above others is hurtful…not loving at all. Only God can judge a person’s salvation but a fruit tree that doesn’t produce fruit is dead to its purpose. “No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’ Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil,’ Luke 13:5- 7.
When you call on Jesus to be your Savior, the Holy Spirit gave birth to your spirit and you were born again. To be born again means that you do
God tells us that if we obey Him by seeking Him with our whole Waldo Funeral Home. heart then He will reveal Himself to us. One of the ways He reveals James was preceded in death by his
Faith
by Debbie Wallis
“Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them,” John 14:21.
If you do not have a Bible please contact me at sfadebbie@yahoo.com and I will provide you one.
James D. Usrey, 1936-2016 mother, Lillie Usrey; son, Brian; brothers, William, Joe Wayne, and Tommy; and sister, Merina. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Wanda, of the home; sons, Roger Usrey of Boswell, OK, and Roy Usrey and wife, Tammy of Prosper, TX; mother-in-law, Lucille Watson of Howe; grandchildren, Karmen Usrey (Brian Jeter), Fabian Usrey, Travis Usrey (Megan), Matthew Usrey (Kimberly), Tim Usrey, Jessica Usrey, Daniel Usrey (Shelby), and Howe- James D. Usrey was born Tanner Usrey (Kelsi Adam); great September 8, 1936 in Mena, grandchildren, Danyel, Brian, Arkansas, and went into the Logan, Caden, Braylen, Phynix, presence of the Lord on September Emily, Chelsea, and Rayleigh; 9, 2016 from his home at the age of brothers, Johnny Usrey of Boswell, 80. and LeRoy Usrey and wife, Lee of Flower Mound, TX; and other James was raised in the Sadler area. extended family members. He married the love of his life, Funeral services will be held at Wanda Watson, on October 25, 12:00 PM on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 1956 in Durant, Oklahoma. James Waldo Funeral Home chapel in worked for Grumman Olson Body Sherman with Pastor Weldon Shop in Sherman for several years Hutson officiating with Steve as a painter. He was a hard worker Watson assisting. Interment will and a dedicated family man. When follow at Akers Cemetery with he wasn’t working, he enjoyed grandsons serving as pallbearers. watching his kids and grandkids ball The family will receive friends games, livestock shows, and fishing from 6-8 PM on Monday at Waldo with his family. James and Wanda Funeral Home. are members of Bethel Baptist Church, which he helped start and Online condolences may be build. James was also a faithful registered at trustee with the church for many www.waldofuneralhome.com. years. Services are under the direction of
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