Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men! Luke 2:14 (NKJV)
Mrs. Faye Price’s schedule was busy yesterday, so she did not have a chance to sit up. Maybe today. “Miss” Faye looks better, but the doctor keeps telling her daughters to “get some rest”. They laughed saying their mother is looking better, but they must not be!
Keep praying for “Miss” Faye, the medical staff caring for her, and her extended family. Your prayers are appreciated very much!
Pray for Holly K. as she prepares to share at FBC, Kentwood tomorrow at 6 P.M. She will be using a video and a power point presentation. I’m looking forward to hearing her and supporting her as she goes to West Africa as a MK teacher.
Dr. John W. Sloan (Bro. Chip) will be preaching at Roseland tomorow morning at 11:00. You are invited to attend the service and worship with the members of that church.
As churches continue to collect money for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, you might be interested in this brief summary of her life.
Lottie’s life in brief
Birth
Born Charlotte Diggs Moon Dec. 12, 1840, in Albemarle County, Va.
Salvation
Lottie rebelled against Christianity until she was in college. In December 1858, she dedicated her life to Christ and was baptized at First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va.
Education
Lottie attended Albemarle Female Institute, female counterpart to the University of Virginia. In 1861, she was one of the first women in the South to receive a master’s degree.
Pre-missionary life
Lottie stayed close to home during the Civil War but eventually taught school in Kentucky, Georgia and Virginia.
Missionary appointment
Edmonia Moon, Lottie’s sister, was appointed to Tengchow, China, in 1872. The following year, Lottie was appointed and joined her sister there.
Missionary work
Lottie served 39 years as a missionary, mostly in China’s Shantung province. She taught in a girls’ school and often made trips into China’s interior to share the good news with women and girls.
Letters home
Lottie frequently wrote letters to the United States, detailing Chinese culture, missionary life and the great physical and spiritual needs of the Chinese people. Additionally, she challenged Southern Baptists to go to China or give so that others could go. By 1888, Southern Baptist women had organized and helped collect $3,315 to send workers needed in China.
Lottie’s death
Lottie died aboard a ship in the Japanese harbor of Köbe on Dec. 24, 1912. She was 72 years old.
Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®
In 1918, Woman’s Missionary Union named the annual Christmas offering for international missions after the woman who had urged them to start it.
Command
JUST BEFORE JESUS went to Calvary He said to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” ( John 13:34, 35)…
Is it right for God to command us to love one another?
Imagine a young man on a college campus who sees and falls in love with a young lady. But she’s not the least bit interested in him. So, he goes up to her one day and says, “I command you to love me!” Can a man do that to a young lady? Of course not.
It’s important that we understand that Christian love is not an emotional feeling that we manufacture. But it means we treat each other the way God treats us. Christian love is not a matter of feeling, it’s a matter of willing. “For God so loved…that he gave” ( John 3:16). God’s love wasn’t a sentimental feeling, but it expressed itself in action.
How does God treat us? God forgives us, so we forgive one another. God is kind to us, so we are kind to one another. God receives us, so we receive one another. We may not have the same personalities, or we might not even have the same interests; but we willingly and deliberately treat each other the way God treats us. This helps us to understand what it means to love one another.
I’m going to have a difficult time washing your feet if I don’t love you. I’m going to have a difficult time forgiving you if I don’t love you. The interesting thing is this: the more we deliberately will to love one another, the more our feelings begin to change; and lo and behold, we even start to like one another. You may not want to spend a week’s vacation with some people, but you can still treat them the way God treats you. As we love one another more and more, we learn to like one another. We can get along with one another.
God commands us to love one another because He revealed to us His love. He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down one’s life for his friends” ( John 15:13). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” ( Rom. 5:8, 10). Jesus gave us the perfect example of what it means to “love one another” by His life and by His death. His command to love one another shouldn’t be looked upon as a burdensome commandment ( 1 John 5:2, 3), but a joy. (Howell Ferguson)
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” ( John 13:34, 35).
The Prayer Link 