(The two little girls who lost their mother and grandmother)

A number of months ago, (July 2009) I shared with you the tragedy of Cheyenne and Savannah Fuller.  They are the two little girls from our school who witnessed their mother and grandmother being murdered. The alleged suspect is their father.  He is currently in jail charged with the murder.  Since that time, the custody for these two girls and where they would be allowed to go to school has been a fierce battle in the courts.  I know as I was asked to be at one of the court hearings.  All the details are not available as the case has not been completely resolved, but for the moment the courts have decided to let the girls return to Heritage where they have received so much love and support in the past.  So on Monday, November 9^th, Savannah and Cheyenne will return to Heritage…at least for this year.  Please continue to pray for them as well as our staff who are quite resolved to help them through this difficult time.   And if you read this article long past this date, give me an email and I will let you know how things have since turned out for them.   I leave you with some thoughts and Scripture on wisdom and knowledge.  They have been of great assistance to me, I hope they will help you too!

God Speed,

Kent McClain

kent1750@cs.com

Making plans

Proverbs 20:18  Prepare plans by consultation, and make war by wise guidance.

Proverbs 15:22  Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.

Proverbs 24:5-6  ⁵A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power.  ⁶For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Proverbs 14:15  The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps.

Proverbs 21:22  A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

Preaching the Gospel

2 Timothy 4:2-3  ²Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  ³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

Romans 15:20-21  ²⁰And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; ²¹but as it is written, “They who had no news of Him shall see, And they who have not heard shall understand.”

Serving others

I Corinthians 4:7  For who regards you as superior?  What do you have that you did not receive? and if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Dealing with sin

Romans 13:12-14  ¹²The night is almost gone, and the day is near.  Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  ¹³Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.  ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Helping others

Proverbs 11:25  The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.

Proverbs 27:9  Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend. 

Romans 14:1-4  ¹Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.  ²One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.  ³The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.  ⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another?  To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Working with the foolish

2 Timothy 2: 23-26  ²³But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.  ²⁴The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, ²⁵with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Dealing with arguments

Proverbs 20:3  Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, but any fool will quarrel.

Proverbs 25:1-3  ¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  ²The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly.  ³The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good.

James 1:19-20  ¹⁹This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

Matthew 5:23-24  ²³“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Working with fellow believers

Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.  

Being Positive

I Thessalonians 5:16-21  ¹⁶Rejoice always; ¹⁷pray without ceasing; ¹⁸in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰do not despise prophetic utterances.  ²¹But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.

Source of wisdom

2 Timothy 3:16-17  ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Matthew 7:24-29  ²⁴“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  ²⁵And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.  ²⁶Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  ²⁷The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”  ²⁸When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; ²⁹for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Working with the lost

Colossians 3:14-16  ¹⁴Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.  ¹⁶Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to the Lord.

Working against the enemy and sin

Luke 12:4  “I say to you, My friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.  ⁵But I will warn you whom to fear:  fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

I Corinthians 6:18-20  ¹⁸Flee immorality, every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.  ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  ²⁰For you have been bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body.

Proverbs 25:26  Like a trampled spring and a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

Heartache

Proverbs 18:14-15  ¹⁴The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but as for a broken spirit who can bear it?  ¹⁵The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Discipline

I Corinthians 6:12-13  ¹²All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

Salvation

Matthew 16:24-26  ²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  ²⁵For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Marriage

Ecclesiastes 9:9  Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.

World’s wisdom

I Corinthians 3:18-19  ¹⁸Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.  For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness.”

Riches

Matthew 6:19-21  ¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; ²¹for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:24-32   ²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth.  ²⁵For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  ²⁶Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?  ²⁷And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  ²⁸And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, ²⁹yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.  ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?  You of little faith!  ³¹Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’  ³²For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

Honesty and humility

Ecclesiastes 7:16  Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise.  Why should you ruin yourself?

Matthew 6:1-4  ¹“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.  ²So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  ³But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,            ⁴so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

 Working through trials and temptations

James 1:1-15  ¹James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad:  Greetings.  ²Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, ³knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  ⁴And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  ⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  ⁶But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  ⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.  ⁹But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; ¹⁰and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.   ¹²Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  ¹⁵Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.