The heart of giving is the giving of the heart.
If God gets the giver, He will get the gift.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Give as you have been prospered.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Give and it will be given to you.
 
Good sayings.  I can see you nodding your heads in agreement.  However, when it comes to sacrificial giving, too many nod that it should be practiced, but few seem to give sacrificially.  Paul tell us how to be liberal givers in II Corinthians 8:5.  He was using the Macedonian churches as an example of giving.  They were poverty stricken and yet they gave liberally.  The verse says, “…they first gave themselves to the Lord.”  This is the key to sacrificial giving.
 
 
A big silver dollar and a little brown cent,
Rolling along together they went.
Rolling along down the smooth sidewalk,
When the dollar remarked, for the dollar can talk,
You poor little cent, you cheap little mite.
I am bigger than you and twice as bright.
Why I am worth more than you a hundred fold.
And on me written in letters bold.
Is the motto drawn from the pen’s creed,
“in God we trust” which all can read.
I know said the cent, I’m a cheap little mite.
I know I’m not big nor good nor bright.
And yet said the cent with a meek little sigh,
You don’t go to church as often as I.
(anonymous)
 
~~Greely Kirkpatrick~~

     If you read the above title as thanksgiving, read it again.  One letter was changed, but there should not be much difference in the two words.  Thanksgiving will lead to thanksliving.  You see, you can’t have a thankful spirit without it showing in your living.
 
    Ephesians 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  That verse is easy to read, but not so easy to live.  How often are we to give thanks?  ALWAYS.  For what are we to give thanks?  ALL THINGS.  Do you ever catch yourself during the day and realize you haven’t given thanks to God for the gift of the day?  Do you ever fail to give thanks for your food, shelter and clothing?
 
     Isn’t it true that there are some people who are constantly thankful for what they have and others who seem to never have a thankful thought.  I like the saying, “If you can’t be thankful for the things you have, be thankful for the things you don’t have.”
 
     A man was robbed at gun point.  He was asked about the experience.  He answered “First, I am thankful he took my wallet and not my life.  Second, I am thankful that although he took all I had it wasn’t much.  Third, I am thankful that it was he who robbed and not I!
 
     I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “in everything give thanks’ for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”   If it is God’s will that I be thankful, then I am guilty of violating His will when I am not.  This Thursday we call “Thanksgiving Day”. However, shouldn’t everyday be Thanksgiving Day?
 
~~Greely Kirkpatrick~~
 

     Our nation elected a new president on Tuesday.  He is not perfect for sure, but he is against abortion.  I heard him say if elected, he would reverse Roe vs Wade.  This is very encouraging because how can God bless a nation that kills its unborn?
 
     Partial birth abortion is a horrific procedure.  I will not describe it in this article, but you can read how it is done on your computer (Have your Kleenex ready). 
 
     Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”.  What a terrible sin abortion is in our nation.  What a horrible reproach it has been for years to our morality.  I am praying that President Elect Trump will appoint Supreme Court Judges who are pro- life.  He has said that he will.
 
     The most difficult sermon I ever preached at Sparta was on abortion.  I remember one sister wrote me a letter:  She said she understood the sermon was necessary, but she hoped to never sit through another one like it.
 
     From 1973 to 2011 fifty-three million abortions were reported. That number is staggering!  Below is a case against abortion:
 

1. Medical Testimony: A new human being comes into existence during the process of fertilization.
2. Prenatal Development: Growth in the womb is a rapid process; all systems are in place by eight weeks.
3. Rights of Personhood; It is unjust and inaccurate to classify certain human beings as “non-persons.”
4. Abortion Procedures: All abortion methods violate the most basic medical tenet; “Do No Harm.”
5. Abortion Pictures: Abortion is an act of violence against an innocent human being.

 
 
 
Please pray for the reversal of Roe vs Wade.
 
 
 
 
~~~Greely Kirkpatrick~~

In Jeremiah 18 God told the prophet to go to the potter’s house and there he would receive His Word.  Jeremiah did as he was instructed and watched the potter as he fashioned a vessel out of clay.  Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?  Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand…”
Jer. 18:6.
 
     Do you see yourself as clay in the Master Potter’s hand?  We are living in a time that says, “You are the potter and others are the clay; you must mold others into what you want them to be so they can serve you.”  To yield ourselves to another with the intention of letting someone mold us is foreign to the thinking of many.  However, such an idea is not strange to the Christian.  Sometimes we sing the hymn “Have Thine On Way, Lord”.  One stanza says “Thou art the potter, I am the clay.  Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still”.
 
 
I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day.
And as my fingers pressed it, still
It moved and yielded to my will.
I came again when days were past
The bit of clay was hard at last.
The form I gave it, still it bore,
And I could change that form no more.
 
I took a piece of living clay
And gently fashioned it day by day
And molded with my power and art
A young child’s soft and yielding heart.
I came again when years were gone,
It was a man I looked upon.
He still that early impress bore,
And I could fashion it never more.  (author unknown)
 
            
~~~Greely Kirkpatrick~~