Scripture of the Week

: Proverbs 14:30 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

³⁰ A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy and wrath are like rottenness of the bones

It actually causes quite a lot of bone-related sicknesses and diseases in people’s lives: Osteoporosis, rheumatism, arthritis, osteoarthritis, and gout are, among other bone-related and joint-related diseases, a result of the sins of people being jealous and envious and angry or outraged and furious toward other people. We should live in love and peace with other people. When we feel or behave as Proverbs 14:30 describes, chemical and other types of reactions take place in our bodies. This is poison to our cells and if our immune systems are compromised it will lead to bone and joint-related diseases in people’s lives. Dr. Henry W. Wright

Why are the dangers of envy being greater than those associated with wrath or anger?

 Envy is capable of walking hand in hand with pride, which is capable of allowing all forms of iniquities to set in, which would include anger and wrath.

Envy is like a slow drip that doesn’t go away, and gets worse through time. It causes people to do things in order to achieve one goal, which would be to feed that envious heart, regardless of the cost.

The dangers of envy can range from an impure thought and end in a murder, also being responsible for everything that transpires in between.

Though envy is closely related to pride, it really isn’t pride. It might be better described as jealous form of covetousness. To covet something someone has, is far less personal than envy. Instead of coveting something and leaving it at that (which is bad enough), you covet a thing but hold the person at a certain level of disdain who holds the thing you are coveting.

For example, instead of simply coveting someone’s vehicle in your heart, you covet the vehicle, and how dare that person be able to afford it when you deserve to have what he has instead! Most of the time (in my observations), when people talk all kinds of trash about the rich, it’s only because the trash talker is broke. This isn’t virtue signaling, it’s flat out envy.

The dangers of envy include a silent skill set that you won’t find with either anger or wrath. Envy can brood silently inside a person, going unspoken for years. If a person has a good enough poker face and keeps their mouth shut, they can go for quite some time harboring envy without anyone ever realizing it.

But like all iniquities, there comes a point where it will become all consuming. Until the iniquity is dealt with through the power of the Lord and the washing away through the water of the Word, it will fester like an itch that you will never be able to scratch.

Bulletin Notes

 Perfect Peace

The key element in true, lasting peace is the presence of God. Isaiah says to God, “³ You will keep the man in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 (NLV). Christ is our peace—His presence is the presence of peace within us (Eph. 2:14). And so Jesus declares, “In Me you may have peace” (John 16:33).
     What is this peace? It is an inner sense of contentment and quietness, regardless of life’s circumstances. It is steadfast confidence in our ever-faithful, immutable heavenly Father. It is the presence of joy in the midst of unhappiness.
     True peace does not merely dull our pain. A person who has genuine, godly peace can endure an avalanche of hardship and difficulty and still enjoy an inner peace that surpasses all human understanding. Why? Because it does not come from pleasant circumstances, nice events, or good things others may do for us. Instead, it is based on the fact that the Spirit of our holy, omnipotent, and never- changing God lives within us.
     Does enjoying God’s perfect peace mean that you’ll never feel the effects of the storms raging around you? Hardly. But His peace is complete, adequate, and sufficient for anything you face. Keep in mind three keys to experiencing sustained peace:

Focus on God. Perfect peace comes when you fix your mind on God. You must discipline yourself to meditate on God’s presence and work. When you spend time concentrating on a problem, does it not seem to grow bigger? In the same way, you will have a greater sense of God’s presence and provision as you fix your mind on Him.

Trust Him. You never have to worry about God acting too late or providing insufficient help. His timing and purposes are perfect; in fact, His Word is full of rock-solid promises, many of which involve granting you peace. Know that He will always honor them!

Meditate on His Word. Psalm 119:165 emphasizes that those who love God’s Word have great peace. Your most precious material possession is your Bible. Every believer should love God’s Word and feast on it daily. If you love it, you’re going to believe what it says— and then it will guide and anchor your life.   Charles Stanley

                ATTORNEY AND THE PATHOLOGIST
In a murder trial, the defense attorney was cross-examining a pathologist. Here's what happened:
Attorney: Before you signed the death certificate, had you taken the pulse?
Coroner: No.
Attorney: Did you listen to the heart?
Coroner: No.
Attorney: Did you check for breathing?
Coroner: No.
Attorney: So, when you signed the death certificate, you weren't sure the man was dead, were you?
 Coroner: Well, let me put it this way. The man's brain was sitting in a jar on my desk. But I guess it's possible he could be out there practicing law somewhere.

                          THE DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENT
Doctor: I have some bad news and some very bad news.
Patient: Well, might as well give me the bad news first.
Doctor: The lab called with your test results. They said you have 24 hours to live.
Patient: 24 HOURS! That's terrible!! WHAT could be WORSE? What's the very bad news?
Doctor: I've been trying to reach you since yesterday.