LEARN FROM THE PAST AND PRESS ON

We seem to grow more spiritually when life is unpleasant than when we are comfortable. It requires a level of maturity not to get sidetracked by life's hard knocks and injustice.

We cannot live in the past and claim the future. We cannot move to second base and at the same time hug first base. Instead, we must learn from the past. We must come to terms with our past and press on.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There is a song that says I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I'm gonna be, but praise God I'm not what I was. Thank you, Jesus.

A TIME IN LIFE

One of the tough spots on the road of life is between our teen years and adulthood. It is a time of transition filled with struggles between dependance and independence. We want to be treated like a child and an adult.

There should come a time in our lives when we can say in our hearts, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine! as our parents and grandparents may have done.

There should be a time when we can go to Jesus, our own personal High Priest, and find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

There should be a growing awareness that God is still present, that God is still working, and that God is still committed to us.

The whole world can be against us, but if we know that God is with us, for us, and is on our side, we can go forward.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed.

GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSE

What are we struggling with? Do we realize the benefit of prayer in our lives? It makes sense to pray because God knows all things and He controls all things.

God knows the beginning from the end and His eternal purpose. His plan for the ages will be accomplished. Nothing can change that.

God can use all men, saved and lost, godly and ungodly, to serve His eternal purpose by their own will and choices. Even when the world around us seems out of control, we can know that God is in control.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

• John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence wrote:

Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual . . . Continue steadfast and with a proper sense of your dependence on God. Nobly defend those rights which heaven gave and no man ought to take from us. 

Standing tall and unwavering, these fifty-six signers pledged: For the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

• Five were captured by the British as traitors and were tortured before they died.
• Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
• Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army
• Another had two sons captured
• Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardship resulting from the Revolutionary War

These men believed in a cause far beyond themselves. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Thanks to those who died and suffered loss defending America's liberty.