By: G. Brandon Hoyt
LAKELAND, FL
As you can well imagine, all the guys downtown this last week were thinking about "today", June 6, 2006. I wrote the full date out on purpose, it's silly to think that a day is "The Mark of the Beast" when 1. it's mentioned as a number, sixhundred sixty six, to be exact; 2. the people OF THAT DAY could understand it. I doubt the church was thinking "man, 6/6/06 is going to be a horrible day!" They had greater things to worry about like emporers whose names just happened to add up to sixhundred sixty six. Did I mention that they made you carry papers to serve as proof that you had made an offering to Caesar, and that without this paper, you could not buy or sell anything? Now I could be wrong, but because of the precision of this line of thinking, and it's something every Christian everywhere can understand once they had all the facts, I choose to believe that unless GW demands sacrifices to him, we are allright.
Still don't mean I want an RFID chip implanted in me though :)
Well, as Doc Smith always says: When people want to focus on the sensational, focus on Jesus instead.
So we talked about the mark of the beast and the mark of the spirit.
Every time I think about the spirit's mark, I think about "the fruit of the spirit" found in Galatians 5:23-25. Call me oldschool, but I believe that THIS is what we are to be concerned about seeing in a person or on a person, not some tattoo or national id card. With the spirit's fruit in our lives we can be confidant that God is our maker, we have his seal!
Thank God we are more than conquorers!!
Praise God for the power of His seal in our lives!!!
This Week's BASIC Prayer list includes:
Dan McMillan: "Always need prayer. Want to leave town maybe miami."
Garrick Mitchell: "Let me live through today"
George Graham: "Strength"
Edwin Cabrera: "Power to resist Temptations"
James Aiken: "Work"
Steve Soglin: "Pray to reinforce my relationship with God. And to change my life."
Dannie Paul: "Yes, get off drugs."
Jesus said the way you know a person is a disciple by the love they have for each other, and the spirit marked life is a life marked with love.
RAFI UPDATE!!!
Rafael returns to central florida today! He's got a cast on for the next four weeks, and phys. therapy after that. Pray that his leg will heal and that he has a safe trip here. He's a great kid, and he would appreciate an email or two of encouragement. Thank him for supporting BASIC, and pray that BASIC can support him though this physical trial.
