Here are some recent readings from The Bible Banner available at our church in paper copy:
 
 
 
 
 

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

After John Wesley had been preaching for some time, some one said to him, "Are you sure, Mr. Wesley, of your salvation?" "Well," he answered, "Jesus Christ died for the whole world." "Yes, we all believe that; but are you sure that you are saved?" Wesley replied that he was sure that provision had been made for his salvation. "But are you sure, Wesley, that you are saved?" It went like an arrow to his heart, and he had no rest or power until that question was settled.

Many men and many women go on month after month, and year after year, without power, because they do not know their standing in Christ; they are not sure of their own footing for eternity. Latimer wrote Ridley once that when he was settled and steadfast about his own salvation he was as bold as a lion, but if that hope became eclipsed he was fearful and afraid and was disqualified for service. Many are disqualified for service because they are continually doubting their own salvation.
 
 

More on Assurance…

An elderly man said to H.A. Ironside, "I will not go on unless I know I'm saved, or else know it's hopeless to seek to be sure of it. I want a definite witness, something I can't be mistaken about!" Ironside replied, "Suppose you had a vision of an angel who told you your sins were forgiven. Would that be enough to rest on?" "Yes, I think it would. An angel should be right." Ironside continued, "But suppose on your deathbed Satan came and said, 'I was that angel, transformed to deceive you.' What would you say?" The man was speechless. Ironside then told him that God has given us something more dependable than the voice of an angel. He has given His Son, who died for our sins, and He has testified in His own Word that if we trust Him all our sins are gone. Ironside read  I John 5:13, "You may know that you have eternal life." Then he said, "Is that not enough to rest on? It is a letter from heaven expressly to you."
God's Spirit used that to bring assurance to the man's heart.
 
 

There are four basic categories:
                        1) Those who think they are saved, but aren't. Matthew 7:21-3
                        2) Those we think are saved, but aren't. 1 John 2:18-19
                        3) Those who are saved, but don't act like it: Corinthians.
                        4) Those who are saved, and they act like it.
 

IT'S WHAT YOU DO--NOT WHEN YOU DO IT

Ted Williams, at age 42, slammed a home run in his last official time at bat.
Mickey Mantle, age 20, hit 23 home runs his first full year in the major leagues.

Golda Meir was 71 when she became Prime Minister of Israel.
William Pitt II was 24 when he became Prime minister of Great Britain.

George Bernard Shaw was 94 when one of his plays was first produced.
Mozart was just seven when his first composition was published.

Now how about this? Benjamin Franklin was a newspaper columnist at 16
and a framer of the United States Constitution when he was 81.

You're never too young or too old if you've got DETERMINATION.
Let's recognize that age has little to do with MOTIVATION.

VICTORY

There are no victories at discount prices.  
(General Dwight Eisenhower.)




 

VISION

Almost 400 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.  In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?  Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision. With a clear vision of what we can become in Christ, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.

Vision:  The capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable.  A godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people.
 
 
 
 

JUDSON’S DEDICATION TO THE CAUSE

Adoniram Judson sweated out Burma's heat for 18 years without a furlough, six years without a convert. Enduring torture and imprisonment, he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife's health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: "If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . ." But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: "Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . ."
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE SEASONS OF LIFE
 

                               I am the springtime, when everything seems so fine.
                        Whether rain or sunshine, you will find me playing.
                        Days full of pretending.
                        When a dime is a lot to be spending.
                        A time when life is beginning.
                        I am the springtime.

                        I am the summer. When the days are warm and longer.
                        When the call comes to wander, but I can't go far from home.
                        When the girls become a mystery.
                        When you're barely passing history.
                        And thinking old is when you're thirty.
                        I am the summer.

                        And I am the autumn days. When changes come so many ways.
                        Looking back I stand amazed that time has gone so quickly.
                        When love is more than feelings.
                        It's fixing bikes and painting ceilings.
                        It's when you feel a cold wind coming.
                        I am the autumn days.

                        I am the winter. When days are cold and bitter.
                        And the days I can remember number more than the days to come.
                        When you ride, instead of walking.
                        When you barely hear the talking.
                        And goodbyes are said too often.
                        I am the winter...
                        But I'll see springtime in heaven,
                        and it will last forever.
 
 
 
 

ATONEMENT

I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents
warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.  The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that night."
 
 
 
 

HE DIED SO WE COULD LIVE!

In his book Written In Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.  Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube. With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?'
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He's thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister.
Each of us, however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood but His life.
 
 
 

What is Really Valuable?

On April 14, 1912, 10:00 p.m. the Titanic crashed into an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic and four hours later sank. One woman in a life boat asked if she could go back to her room. She was given only three minutes to do so. She hurried down the corridors, already tilting dangerously, through the gambling room piled ankle-deep in money. In her room were her treasures waiting to be taken, but instead, she snatched up three oranges and hurried back to the boat. One hour before she would have naturally chosen diamonds over oranges, but in the face of death, values are seen more clearly.
 
 
 

THE SWAN AND CRANE

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired:
 "Where do you come from?"
 "I come from heaven!" replied the swan.
 "And where is heaven?" asked the crane.
 "Heaven!" said the swan, "Heaven! have you never heard of heaven?"
And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane. Finally the crane asked: "Are there any snails there?" "Snails!" repeated the swan; "no! Of course there are not." "Then," said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want snails!"
This fable has a deep truth underlying it. How many a young person to whom God has granted the advantages of a Christian home, has turned his back upon it and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice his wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How many a girl has deliberately turned from the love of parents and home to learn too late that heaven has been forfeited for snails