A Good Start to Reining in Washington

By Cong. Bill Huizenga

House Republicans accomplished something not many people thought was possible – we took a significant step towards slowing Washington’s out-ofcontrol spending. Now, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is by no means a perfect bill, but it puts our fiscal future on a better path. This legislation is projected to reduce spending and save taxpayers $2,100,000,000,000. It’s also the first time in modern history that Washington is estimated to spend less next year than it did this year. With the largest deficit reduction bill in history, House Republicans are leading our nation in the right fiscal direction.

It is important to remember how we got here. President Biden’s long-stated position was simply not to negotiate. The President was willing to put his foot on the gas of the Washington spending machine and make no reforms to spending while driving our nation further into debt. The President even refused to meet with Speaker McCarthy for nearly 100 days. Meanwhile the Senate, led by Chuck Schumer (D-NY), didn’t hold a single vote on the debt ceiling in either March or April. It was a united House Republican Conference that forced the President and Senate Democrats to the table by passing The Limit, Save, Grow Act on April 26th.

In a divided government, no one gets everything they want. However, with House Republicans having only a slim majority and facing liberal opposition at every turn, saving $2.1 trillion is a solid start. In order to help lift Americans out of poverty, the Fiscal Responsibility Act also strengthens our workforce by expanding work requirements for capable individuals, who are without dependents and are on taxpayer assistance. Additionally, this legislation will grow our economy by enacting the first meaningful permitting reform in roughly 40 years and unleashing American energy production as well as improving infrastructure development.

Our work to address Washington’s runaway spending is far from over, but the Fiscal Responsibility Act begins to turn the fiscal ship.

If you need help navigating a federal agency, please visit Huizenga.House.Gov or call my office in Holland at (616) 251-6741 or in Washington at (202) 225-4401 so we can assist you.

Nesbitt Condemns Bill Granting Union Bosses Access to Private Contact Information of Public Employees

Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, made the following statement Thursday, denouncing the partisan passage of Senate Bill 169 by Democrats who wish to compel public sector employees to turn over their private contact information to union bosses by law:

“Once again, this new Democratic majority is rushing to provide special public handouts to their big union backers — this time their gift is the privacy rights of public employees. Under this outrageous legislation, someone who wishes to live free of becoming entangled in the constrictive tentacles of a public sector union, would no longer be allowed such a privilege because their updated, personal contact information would be turned over every three months to a union boss.

“Setting the potential for strong-arming and intimidation aside, there are many reasons why a public employee might wish to keep their private contact information private from union leaders. It could simply be because the person disagrees with the known funding of politicians and causes that don’t align with the employee’s values. Or maybe it’s because of welldocumented cases of corruption or embezzlement like in 2018 when a local AFSCME union boss was charged with stealing $600,000 from the union. Perhaps more concerning, it could even be because of wellknown and documented rumors of harassment and sexual assault by powerful, well-protected union bosses.

“With no regard or respect for the U.S. Supreme Court’s previous ruling on this subject, Democrats are steamrolling ahead on their agenda to pay back their big union backers and creating a perilous work environment for public employees who are uninterested in union membership and wish not to be harassed on their private phones and at their private homes.”

Distinguishing the Wheat from the Tares

By Tonja Taylor

He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots.--

Matthew 15:13, AMPC

Matthew 13:26-30, talk about an enemy sowing weeds into a farmer’s good field. The master says to let them grow until a certain time.

This is what I had to do in my garden this year. I had combined organic bought soil with compost soil that had been created from food scraps, local dirt, etc.

At first, I thought there were many, many weeds springing up, but then I had a shot of hope in my heart that, maybe, just maybe, these were tiny food-bearing plants! So, I patiently waited until the plants were big enough for me to (overall) tell the difference between them.

As they got mature enough for me to distinguish the weeds from the good plants, I realized I had at least 50 tiny baby tomato plants! However, there were many that were just weeks (tares), so I took an hour one cool morning, and used my hoe and my hands and uprooted those weeds, which would only hinder the good plants.

So, it is with the “weeds” in our lives. If we let them keep growing, they will hinder and can even strangle--and cause them to be completely unproductive! --the good things in our lives!

Some things are apparent, but other “weeds” require the wisdom of God, to recognize and root up. The LORD will always help us with this, for His Plan from the Beginning was the Garden of Eden

(Genesis 1)!

Much more than a physical garden, we must recognize, renounce, and remove the weeds from our spirits, souls, and bodies. The Spirit of Truth (John 16) will help us with this. It can be a painful process--just like trying to remove a tree, or even a long vine or briar-but it is so worth it.

13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For

He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].--John 16:13, AMPC

Once I could tell the good plants from the bad, I removed the bad, or unproductive ones (Sometimes things are not necessarily “bad”, but just steal from the better and

Immanuel Reformed Church

M-89 (500 East Main Street) & Wilson Avenue (57th Street) Post Office Box 434, Fennville, Michigan, 49408 Telephone: 1-616-283-1546

Outdoor Drive-In Worship Service

¼ mile North of Fennville on 58th Street.

June 18, 2023 - Lords Day 24 Service begins at 6:00PM

Special Music: Shelly VanLoo

Guest speaker: Pastor Bill Dodge

A FREE WILL offering will be taken during the service. Gifts will be used to continue the Outdoor service.

If there is thunder and lightning or a Tornado warning at 5:00pm or it’s been raining ALL day the outdoor service will be cancelled.

Telephone: 616.283.1546 or 616.990.5976 best things in our lives. We need the wisdom of God to know this, and take action as He leads.), I saw the good ones start growing more quickly. They had more room to grow and were getting the nutrients that the bad ones had been taking. It gives me satisfaction to go to my garden and know that--just like the LORD has been helping me in every part of life, as I’ve cooperated with Him--I have only good things growing, that will bear much fruit!

All Welcome – Join us as we praise and thank God by worshipping with Him and His creation!

Tonja K. Taylor and her husband of almost 18 years live to exalt God. Tonja tutors K-12 kids and adults in core and creative subjects online and is available for presentations and workshops on many subjects, from writing to worship to health. Book IV of The P.O.W.E.R.* Girl series is almost done!

The Man Who Couldn’t Let Go

By Jeff Munroe

Read: Mark 10:17-31

Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me (v. 21)

One of the problems with possessions is that we can become enslaved to them. Think of how differently you behave after putting new carpet in a room. Shoes, pets, food and drink are suddenly banished. There’s nothing wrong with buying new carpet, but do you see how quickly life gets rearranged by the care of just one possession? The more we have to care for, the less space, it seems is left for God. Caring for his possessions prevented the rich young ruler from following Jesus.

The martyred missionary, Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Those words capture the essence of what the rich young ruler failed to understand. Jesus is not suggesting the rich young ruler can purchase his salvation. Our Lord is showing him that the encumbrance of his wealth stops him from receiving the free gift of God. If he were willing to give up that which he could not keep – his temporal wealth – he could gain that which he could not lose – his salvation. But it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for us to let go of our possessions to create space for God. The ability to do this does not come from inside us. Thanks be to God that through him all things are possible.

Jeff Munroe is the editor of the Reformed Journal.

This devotional is reprinted by permission from Words of Hope. To receive Words of Hope’s daily meditation, and learn more about their international ministry, please visit woh.org.