Tag: Unbelief

FAMILY TIES

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Shelby G. Floyd

 

Good morning. We hope you are adjusting to your stay at home because of Covid-19. I heard one member would go sit in a chair and ask himself a question. And then he would move to another chair and answer his question. In other words he was talking to himself. That reminds me of a story that my mom told about when she was growing up. There was a man that was always talking to himself! They would kid him about it. One day they asked him why he was talking to himself so much. His answer was classic. “I like to talk to a smart man and I like to hear a smart man talk!”

Today is Easter Sunday and we have a lot of good memories of hunting Easter eggs and family get-together on this holiday. We will have the opportunity to share the joy with little children again. Later in our service today we will remember the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord when we take communion as we do so each Sunday.

I am speaking to you about Family Ties. Do you miss being with your family? I miss being with my family. I miss having a cup of coffee with my son and his wife and visiting with our daughters in Florida and their families. We also miss being with our grandchildren and great grandchildren. With patience we will also be back meeting as a congregation in one place before too long. Continue reading “FAMILY TIES” →

HARDENING THE HEART NO. 2

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Shelby G. Floyd

Previously, we have observed that many of the Jews rejected the message of Christ, and had thereby fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, when he said, “Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed” (John 12:38). This unbelief on the part of the Jews had been in the face of the greatest of evidence, miracles, signs and wonders performed by the Lord himself, confirming his identity as God’s only begotten Son, and confirming his speech as being inspired of God.

But the unbelief and rejection of Christ, and his message, by the Jews, also fulfilled another statement of the prophet Isaiah: “Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:39-41). Continue reading “HARDENING THE HEART NO. 2” →

HARDENING THE HEART NO. 1

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Shelby G. Floyd

During the ministry of Christ, multitudes of people heard him preach the wonderful words of God. A few believed, but most of them believed not. Concerning those people who heard him and believed not, John, the apostle, made the following observations:

“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12: 37-41 NKJV).

We observe first, that in spite of the many miracles which Jesus performed openly before the people, yet they kept on not believing on him. That is, they rejected the miracles which confirmed his word and his identity as the divine son of God. The apostle John only records seven miracles performed by Christ, but these seven were typical of all the miracles which he did perform, which were many, great and varied. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind, and in many other types of healing miracles gave evidence that God was with him. Continue reading “HARDENING THE HEART NO. 1” →

A TIME TO LAUGH

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Shelby G. Floyd

life-is-better-when-youre-laughing-quote-3

Don’t all of you enjoy a congregation where people have a smile on their faces instead of a frown? I do not think any of us enjoy being around grouchy and grumpy people. It pulls us down. To have a good laugh lifts us up. I have been preaching about 54 years, and I have never preached on the subject of laughter. So I felt I needed to do that.

It is revealing when you go to the Bible and start doing research to find out the Bible has a quite a bit to say about laughter. In Ecclesiastes 3: 4 Solomon says there is “A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Have you ever seen anyone that would cause you to laugh? If you will go to the mall you will see all kinds of people, wearing all kinds of outlandish outfits, and sometimes it is just fun to go over there and sit down and have some good laughs, because people are funny. Solomon says: “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.” That tells us that God wants us to be cheerful. He does not want us to go around frowning and mourning, being sad and weeping and wailing all of the time. There is a time to do that, but not all the time!

Someone said: “Laugh often, dream big and reach for the stars.” “A laugh is a smile that bursts out.” “Laughter is the spark of the soul.” Someone else said, “Laughter is an instant vacation.” We all need some vacations. We can take that kind of a vacation everyday if we laugh a little bit. God wants us to be joyful and glad. Even God has a sense of humor. We say that because when we raise our children we find out what our parents went through, and now God is allowing us to go through the same thing. We say God has a sense of humor because we are experiencing what our parents experienced with us. As we have heard it said, “It is not a sin to grin.” Some people think you should never smile, laugh, or grin in the church. It is not a sin to grin, but it is a sin to worry yourself to death. It is better to grin, be happy, smile and laugh than to be filled with worry and die a premature death. Continue reading “A TIME TO LAUGH” →

A Time to Laugh

Published on by sgf1964Leave a comment

By

Shelby G. Floyd

 Laugh

Don’t all of you enjoy a congregation where people have a smile on their faces instead of a frown? I do not think any of us enjoy being around grouchy and grumpy people. It pulls us down. To have a good laugh lifts us up. I have been preaching about 45 years, or something like that, and I have never preached on the subject of laughter. So I felt I needed to do that.

It is revealing when you go to the Bible and start doing research to find out the Bible has a quite a bit to say about laughter. In Ecclesiastes 3: 4 Solomon says there is “A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Have you ever seen anyone that would cause you to laugh? If you will go to the mall you will see all kinds of people, wearing all kinds of outlandish outfits, and sometimes it is just fun to go over there and sit down and have some good laughs, because people are funny. Solomon says: “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.” That tells us that God wants us to be cheerful. He does not want us to go around frowning and mourning, being sad and weeping and wailing all of the time. There is a time to do that, but not all the time!
Someone said: “Laugh often, dream big and reach for the stars.” “A laugh is a smile that bursts out.” “Laughter is the spark of the soul.” Someone else said, “Laughter is an instant vacation.” We all need some vacations. We can take that kind of a vacation everyday if we laugh a little bit. God wants us to be joyful and glad. Even God has a sense of humor. We say that because when we raise our children we find out what our parents went through, and now God is allowing us to go through the same thing. We say God has a sense of humor because we are experiencing what our parents experienced with us. As we have heard it said, “It is not a sin to grin.” Some people think you should never smile, laugh, or grin in the church. It is not a sin to grin, but it is a sin to worry yourself to death. It is better to grin, be happy, smile and laugh than to be filled with worry and die a premature death. Continue reading “A Time to Laugh” →