They sat together, talking very little, enjoying the night, the rest, and the food as well as the smell of wood-smoke and coffee.”
              –Louis L’Amour (The Californios)

    “Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.”
              –1 Corinthians 7:3 (NKJV)
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It happened a long time ago, way back.  Back even before the cowboys, so I’ve been told.  There was a day of joy that entered the Baker household–Anna, their first born daughter was born.  Now I can’t tell you much about those first 20 birthdays as I was not around, not even thought of, but I’ve know of the next …. birthdays.
    I came on the scene to help celebrate her 21st birthday.  We had just started dating and for some reason she thought we were seeing too much of each other (just can’t figure that one out) so we agreed to cool it some.  Then her roommate told me I needed to get her to the Joust (student union) for a surprise party.  I don’t remember how I asked her, probably something like I know we said we wouldn’t see each other so much, but I need to talk to you.  It was something like that.  Well, it was a surprise, and maybe even more of one, we kept dating.  Didn’t let a day go by without seeing each other until I went home for the summer and she stayed in Springfield for school.
    There are many things I could say, but I want to bring up something by Louis L’Amour.  It might not be part of the “woke culture,” but then again, neither am I.  It might not be accepted in some circles, but then again, neither am I.

         “This was a woman’s work, a woman who even under stress did not forget her men or the work there was to do.  She was not spoiled, this one.  She was a man’s woman.”
                   –Louis L’Amour (High Lonesome)

Wait a minute, “woman’s work”?  Absolutely!  There is a definite role for a women.  There are things that a woman can do that a man cannot.  Part of the modern culture wants to make a woman equal with a man and to do so she has to step down.  A woman has the role of nurturer, keeper of the hearth and home, teacher of the children at an early age.  Those are vital responsibilities, and today we want man to do them; well, he is just not equipped to do so.
    So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNIE!  You’re my woman, my dearest, my wife.  A person who has rode “shotgun” on all of our adventures.  The one who nourished and raised our girls to be God-fearing and God-loving ladies of virtue.  You are definitely worth more than rubies or gold.  You exemplify the Proverbs 31 wife, but I especially like the following verses:

         “Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.  She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.  She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her…  But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”
                    –Proverbs 31:25-28,30 (NKJV)

    She is a stayer, traveling with me wherever I went from the Rockies, to the East, to the Gulf of Mexico.  She went where I went, she lived in various trials and circumstances, and stuck with me through it all.  When I was gone, and on my way back home, the soup or beans was always on the stove waiting for me.  Oh, and did I tell you that she is the best pie-maker — bar none!  

For himself the desert was enough…  But he enjoyed the giving of pleasure to others.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Taggart)

    “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”
              –1 Peter 1:8 (NLT)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”  (1 John 5:19, NASB)

    Our joy should be full, complete.  We are to live in fullness of joy, in fact, we should live lives of joy, the woes of the world should not affect that.  Jesus Christ is the source of real joy, therefore the message of the Church should be that of Christ.  If one wants to have joy they can find it only, in its purest most complete form only in Jesus Christ.  He is central–He is essential!
    Is your joy not complete?  I believe there are four main hindrances to having the “joy of the Lord” and living a life of joy.

         1)  Sin and unrighteousness — Failure to keep the commandments of God will rob us of our conscious possession of eternal life, thus robbing us of joy in the present.  Sin leads to uncertainty, for Jesus said if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “There is nothing that so upsets our assurance and confidence as sin; the same thing that breaks fellowship with God leads to uncertainty about the divine life within.”
         2)  Lack of love for the brethren — This has to be a God-thing.  God must help us love, for there certainly are some brethren that make it hard to love them.  However, when we have feelings against a brother, it will rob us of our joy.
         3)  Love of the world — cannot mix God and evil.  People may try to enjoy the things of the world; it may bring them short happiness, but it will cause the spirit to grieve.
         4)  False teaching about the person of Jesus Christ — that will/should take the joy from us when we hear it.  The Holy Spirit within us will be grieved.  Joy will not disappear unless you would begin to follow that teaching.  For example, last week I read where one “woke” pastor said that Jesus was a racist and had to repent.  No! No! No!  Jesus never had to repent; He loved the world!

    If there are hindrances to joy, thus, hindrances to our testimony and troublesome to living this life there must also be practical aspects to having joy.

         1)  Believe not every spirit (1 John 4:1).  There are all kinds of spirits in the world–follow only the Holy Spirit.
         2)  Dwell in the love of God (1 John 4:7-21).  It is measureless; it will keep you from sin and if failing it will bring you back to Him.
         3)  Actively keep His commandments.  Oh, to fulfill our love for Him, but keeping His commandments.  What a wonderful thing it is to see Him smile at us.
         4)  Hold the right views of Jesus Christ (1 John 5:5-9).  Be certain of Who He is, of His love for you.  He cares for each one of us.  Know that He is the Son of God, who came to earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified, rose from the grave, and is now in heaven waiting to return to earth.

    There is joy in the assurance that you are a child of God.  Because of that it is easier to go to Him in prayer.  Knowing that He is your heavenly Father that makes prayer much easier for it is to Someone who loves you deeply.  Being a child of God, and recognizing that, makes it easier to have victory over sin.  It’s “victory in Jesus, my Savior, FOREVER” (E.M. Bartlett, emphasis mine).

         “Though the whole world may be rocking around about and beneath your feet, and though hell may be assailing your from every direction, in the confident, quiet knowledge that you are a child of God, you will have a piece of which nothing can rob you.”
                      –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Any man who can sit completely alone for long periods of time under the dome of heaven, and not contemplate the meaning of life, isn’t really alive.”
              –William Wayne Dicksion  (Sagebrush)

    “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
              –1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)
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Rough week?  I know it’s Friday, one more day to go, but I really don’t think the Lord much looks at what day of the week it is unless we miss the Lord’s Day.  I know that this old world can be a terror, and the people in it can raise havoc, cause stupidity, and bring about mayhem.
    Along with that we have this earthly body that is subject to pain and decay.  There are aches of all sorts, there are sores both physical and emotional to deal with.  There is even that word that seems to be always among us–pandemic, the virus of all viruses.  Coughs, sneezes, shortness of breath; aches in the knees, bursitis in the shoulder, arthritis in the fingers, rheumatism in the hips; kidney pain, diabetes, heart problems and with all of that throw in varicose veins and hemorrhoids.  
    Yes, we’re a mess and that’s not even discussing the political scene of our nation or the world.  It is not speaking of the dangers that loom in the Middle East, or North Korea, or China.  Therefore, on this Friday, I would send us into the weekend with some words of assurance and certainty.  Some of which I share this morning is borrowed from Kenneth W. Osbeck’s book, Beyond the Sunset.

         “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.”
                   –2 Corinthians 5:1-2 (NKJV)

    I have always enjoyed the songs of Fanny Crosby.  From 1870 until her death in 1915, she wrote between eight and nine thousand hymns, more than any other writer.  The hymn I am presenting this morning has been one of my favorites, but in my later years I appreciate it more and more.  She said it came from the final message of a pastor friend who had died, “If each of us is faithful to the grace which is given us by Christ, that same grace which teaches us how to live will also teach us how to die.”  What a hymn, Saved By Grace!  What a message!  What a hope!

         Someday the silver cord will break,
         And I no more as now shall sing.
         But, O they joy when I shall wake
         Within the palace of the King!

         Someday my earthly house will fall;
         I cannot tell how soon ’twill be.
         But this I know–my All in All
         Has now a place in heav’n for me.

         Someday, when fades the golden sun
         Beneath the rosy-tinted west,
         My blessed Lord will say, “Well done!”
         And I shall enter into rest.

         Someday–till then I’ll watch and wait,
         My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,
         That when my Savior opes the gate,
         My soul to Him may take its flight.

                   And I shall see Him face to face,
                   And tell the story–saved by grace.
                   And I shall see Him face to face,
                   And tell the story–saved by grace.

    I believe that we will never fully comprehend “grace.”  It is a simple word, yet so profound in its spiritual meaning.  The above song was said to be a favorite of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey.  When Ira Sankey went into a coma he was said to be singing the lines of the first verse–the last words he would utter this side of heaven.  Imagine what he was singing when he entered the portals of glory.

 He felt a new kind of weariness, one that was not physical, but which seemed to crawl through him like a fever.”
              –Luke Short (Marauder’s Moon)

    “They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning.”
              –Jeremiah 9:5 (NLT)
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Several years back I started separating materials into four stacks.  One was immediately thrown away as it contained material I wasn’t interested in, or material I didn’t understand, or material that was flat out not truthful.  The next stack contained good thoughts; thoughts that should be filed away until a later date.  Then there was the stack that I labeled “Use This.”  Much of this information made it into the Echoes.  Then there was the stack that hollered, “Now!”  
    I used to write in a more scholarly manner–proper style and grammar (except for a mistake here and there).  Except for Saturday when ol’ Ira always seemed to appear around the kitchen stove with a pot of coffee to discuss the issues of the world and the proper way to drink coffee.  Once in a while there may be a piece of pie thrown in if’n he had a mind to share.  Now, I write more for the “layman” whether is be for a nonacademic crowd or nontheological-minded group.  
    All of what I just wrote, leads to this morning‘s devotion that I pulled from the stack that contained good thoughts–a sermon by David Wilkerson in 2007.  So I drew from his thoughts as I wrote this morning; it seemed to be the time to use this information.  I want to draw your attention to a few Scriptures:

         “Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste.  Distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants.”
                   –Isaiah 24:1 (NKJV)

         “For in one hour such great riches came to nothing….”
                   –Revelation 18:17(NKJV)

The King James and the Amplified version say of the verse from Isaiah that the world will be “turned upside down.”  Now, the verse in Revelation refers to the city of “Babylon” during the Tribulation.  But think for a moment.  How long did it take the media to turn the virus into a pandemic that shook, and is still shaking the world?  How long did it take to promote a world to live in fear?  
    What Isaiah is referring to could be the Day of the Lord, or it could be destruction that will come because of rampant sin and terrible evil.  Whatever it refers to the destruction cannot be undone and mankind does not have the ability to respond. (David Wilkerson)  It is referring to a destruction that will shake the earth.  It is more than a pandemic over a virus for in an hour the livelihood of the country/nation/world will have changed.  Could it be nuclear war–an attack by Iran on Israel, North Korea on the South, or even China upon the United States?  
    There is, among some circles, a clamor for reparations regarding slavery that took place 150 years ago, while currently there are more slaves today than ever before, most involving sex-trafficking.  There is the horrible situation of murder of the unborn, the killing of the innocents on a scale never seen before.  A nation cannot long hold back the wrath of God when it involves the murder of the children.  There are those in our country who would seek to mutilate a child to change their gender or at a very young age cause mental confusion.  “There is no worse violence than the brutalizing of children, and heaven cries out for judgment.” (David Wilkerson)  
    This goes beyond babies, for youth in the classroom are being taught the things of evil.  This happens from kindergarten and through college there the doctrines of demons are being taught and called “truth.”  Some of the teaching is subtle, while other lessons are blatant.  Let us then realize what is happening around us.  Let us not fear or fret, or live in anxiety wringing our hands.

         “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”
                   –1 Thessalonians 5:8 (NKJV)

    God is on the throne, so when these things begin to happen look to Him.  “So when destruction comes, and there’s panic all around, you’ll have the calm of the Holy Spirit.  Something will quicken inside you…  Arm yourself with faith.  Build up your belief now, before the day comes.” (David Wilkerson)
    What is coming I do not know.  Will there be more destruction, confusion, terror, pestilence before the Rapture?  Unless the Lord returns soon, I would have to say “Yes.”  It doesn’t take long for disaster to strike, and if the nation continues on its current course in regard to the treatment of the children we can expect God to remove His hand of protection and possibly even strike with His vengeance.