The Fifth Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they, and they alone, shall receive God’s mercy,” teaches us that our forgiveness is contingent upon our forgiving others. When the poet, Edwin Markham, was ready to retire at age 60, he discovered that he had been swindled out of his life’s savings by his best friend, a banker. He was penniless, but he began to lecture on poetry and remade his fortune. Yet, after some time on the lecture circuit, he found that he could no longer write poetry.

And when the first flood of bitterness began to sweep into his soul, he cried to himself, “No! I shall not let you in! There shall be no hatred in my heart!   Love shall outlast the stars!”

Out of that experience Edwin Markham wrote one of his most famous lines of verse:

He drew a circle that shut me out –

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in.

Friend, that’s what we did to Jesus. He came to earth to teach us and heal us and love us. But we treated Him like a thing to flout. We rejected Him and mocked Him and, ultimately, we crucified Him. But there on Calvary’s Cross, in dying love and bleeding mercy, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And, in that moment, He drew a circle that took us in. The Savior simply waits for us to step into that circle of redeeming love.

February has been a good month with 345 in Bible Study. Our new Sunday morning schedule has been very well received, with our “Classic Service” at 9:00, Sunday School for everyone at 10:10 and our “Contemporary Service” at 11:20. In addition, our Annual Barnesville Game & Fish Banquet with Hank Parker was the best-attended event of its kind! The Upward Celebration with magician Joe Turner capped off a fine season of basketball and cheer leading at our church. The February Canopy was a great time of worship for the women in our community, and for those wondering, the giraffe did make an appearance!

March has some great events waiting for you: 

      March is going to be a great month! Come EXPECTANTLY! 

There was once a young man who sold books door to door.   He was crippled and walked with great difficulty. At one house where he stopped, the woman rudely turned him down. When he started to walk away, she saw his physical condition and called him back. “I didn’t know that you were crippled. I will buy one of your books.”

But the young man wasn’t selling sympathy, he was selling books and he let her know it. “But,” she said, “doesn’t being lame color your life?” The young man replied, “Yes, it does, but thank God that I am the one who chooses the colors.” We choose the colors of our lives, too.

It is a truism in life that we make our choices, then our choices make us. That is especially applicable when it comes to the series, I am presently preaching called THE BEATITUDES: HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE. In the eight Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12, Jesus shares the attitudes that are necessary for a truly happy life.

The word that Jesus used for “blessed” in the Beatitudes refers to happiness in its fullest sense. It is the Greek word makarios and the true meaning of the word can be seen in the way that the Greeks used it. They called the Island of Cyprus he makaria which means “The Happly Isle.” They did so because they believed that Cyprus was so beautiful, so rich in resources, and so fertile that it contained within itself everything necessary for perfect happiness.

And so the Beatitudes teach us that we have to find happiness within ourselves – within our own hearts and minds. But Jesus doesn’t leave us clueless when it comes to finding happiness. He shares with us eight spiritual attitudes that, if we appropriate them for our lives, will help us discover that happiness does not depend on our outward circumstances but on our inward character.   

January has been a good month with 374 in Bible Study. January also marked a change in our Sunday morning schedule.  We went from two Sunday Schools back to one, and from three worship services back to two. Our nine o’clock service, called our “Classic Service,” has really benefitted from this change. The fullness of the church house, along with the strong spirit of the service, has been inspiring to us all. Our “Contemporary Service,” now at 11:20, also continues to do well. And everyone tells me they enjoy us being back in one Sunday School!

February has some great events waiting for you: 

February is going to be a great month!   Come EXPECTANTLY!