Have you ever played HORSE? A basketball game where you make a shot and then others have to make the same shot and if they miss they get a letter, H-O-R-S-E. The way I played the game as a youth went something like this: When a player has spelled HORSE as a result of missing shots they are out of the game but only after someone has PROVED that they can make that shot two times in a row.

            Proof is necessary not just in the game of HORSE but in almost everything. You have to prove you can drive in order to get a driver's license. You have to prove you can do a specific task before you get a job. You have to prove that someone is guilty of a crime. You get the idea. To prove means to give evidence; to show something to be true; to test the worth of or quality of, specifically: to compare against a standard.

            What proof do we give in our lives that we love the Lord? That we love one another? That we love the community in which we live? What evidence is there in our lives that love exists? Love is seen in what we do. Love is action. The title of the book I am reading right now by Bob Goff sums it up pretty well, "Love Does." Love does whatever is necessary

            What are you doing? What am I doing? What are we doing with the life we have been given to prove that Love Does? This month we will look to several passages of Scripture to help us answer these and other questions to help us live out the love God desires for us to have. Here is one Scripture for your reading today, 1 John 3:16-18, "This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. (The Message)

            Love prays, love studies, love gives, love serves...Love Does!

Jason

God is Good All The Time!

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               In honor of Sondra and her serving these past 39 years as our pianist/accompanist I share this story about a girl and her desire to become a great pianist. Thank you Sondra for your service . Thank you to everyone who allows God to use them to carry on the ministry here at FBC Glenpool! God is looking for availability because He gives the ability! God IS Able!
               A little girl wanted to become a great pianist, but all she could play on the piano was the simple little tune, "Chopsticks." No matter how hard she tried, that was the best she could do. Her parents decided after some time to arrange for a great maestro to teach her to play properly. Of course, the little girl was delighted.
               When the little girl and her parents arrived at the maestro's mansion for the first lesson, they were escorted by the butler into the parlor, where they saw a beautiful concert grand piano. Immediately, the little girl dashed over to the piano and began playing "Chopsticks." Her embarrassed parents started across the room to tell her to stop, but as she played, the maestro entered the room and encouraged the little girl to continue. The maestro then took a seat on the piano bench next to the little girl, listening to her play. After a moment he began to play along with her, adding chords, runs, and arpeggios. The little girl continued to play "Chopsticks."
               The parents couldn't believe their ears. They were hearing a beautiful piano duet, played by their daughter and the maestro, and amazingly enough, the central theme of it was still "Chopsticks."
               At times you may feel like you're a nobody, that you will never accomplish great things. But think of that little girl. All she could play was "Chopsticks." Nobody wanted to hear "Chopsticks." It was an embarrassment to her parents and annoying to everyone else. Yet the maestro encouraged her to keep on playing.
               God knows what you can do. He created you with gifts and talents. Sure, compared to some people's abilities, your gifts and talents may seem like "Chopsticks"-not very original and not very spectacular. But God says, "Keep on playing-and make some room on the piano bench for Me." God is able to take the little that we are able to do and turn it into something beautiful for Him.

God is Good All The Time!

Jason Yarbrough

Looking for answers to Life's Hard Questions? visit http://www.truelife.org/

and watch video answers from experts in their fields.

Want to know what the most important thing is in my life?

Then visit www.mostimportantthing.org and enter my name.

Want to know what is happening at FBC Glenpool?

Take a few minutes and visit our website www.fbcglenpool.com

                At the first of the year I made a post on my Facebook page asking for book suggestions to add to my reading list for 2014. This came about as a result of recognizing my need to spend more time reading, challenging my mind and stretching me out of my comfort zone. I received many good suggestions and I am pleased to say that by the time you read this article I will have finished my first book of the new year. I know, some of you have already read several books this year, but for me this is a big deal!!

                The book title is "God Is Able" by Priscilla Shirer. Vickie was reading the book and said she thought I should read it along with her because it was focusing on one of my favorite Bible verses, Ephesians 3:20-21..."Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen." (Note to the guys....it's a good idea to listen to your wife--- God did give her to you as a helper) The book was a great reminder that no matter what you are facing, what you are going through, what decision you have to make---- God can handle it-- He IS Able!

                Why do I share that with you? It has to do with me committing myself to Him to make the biggest impact I can for Him with the days He gives me. It has to do with growing. For me growing in my relationship with the Lord included adding more reading. It also includes spending more time with Him in prayer, more time in community with others- developing relationships, and sharing Christ more faithfully among other things.

                Here's to growing - will you join me on your own personal journey of growing in Christ? I am  starting book number 2, "Love Does" by Bob Goff, and I can't wait to see what God has to teach me this week!

God is Good All The Time!

Jason Yarbrough

Looking for answers to Life's Hard Questions? visit http://www.truelife.org/

and watch video answers from experts in their fields.

Want to know what the most important thing is in my life?

Then visit www.mostimportantthing.org and enter my name.

Want to know what is happening at FBC Glenpool?

Take a few minutes and visit our website www.fbcglenpool.com

       Looking for the ways to put some order in to your day, week, and New Year??? God through His creation showed us we need to put some margin in our life. For 6 days He created and then on the 7th day he rested. I don't want to argue whether that day is Saturday or Sunday -- I want to point out that God intends for us, His creation, made in His image, to have some down time. Time in which we allow our body to rest. Time to slow down, unwind, just breathe and enjoy the life He has given us -- to rest.
       In looking back over my past weeks, months and the past year I can see that I need some help in this area. Life gets busy. Actually life stays busy and I need the Lord's help to create some order, especially in the area of rest in my life. How about you?
       How can we make sure that there is meaning, significance, power and impact to what we do each day, each week, each month, this year? We need to make time for rest -- to reflect, refresh, re-energize. Make it a point to give yourself and your family time to enjoy one another, to enjoy God's creation, to enjoy life! I know that is something I am committed to this year and I ask for your help to hold me to it!

God is Good All The Time!

Jason Yarbrough

Looking for answers to Life's Hard Questions? visit http://www.truelife.org/

and watch video answers from experts in their fields.

Want to know what the most important thing is in my life?

Then visit www.mostimportantthing.org and enter my name.

Want to know what is happening at FBC Glenpool?

Take a few minutes and visit our website www.fbcglenpool.com

            Life is busy- just look at your calendars leading up to the new year (if not your calendar then come take a look at mine). Life is full of stress- again look at your calendars with so many things to do and not enough time or funds to do them all. Life is full of choices- oh wait look at your calendars once again. Read this story that focuses on enjoying the coffee. (This from a guy who is not yet old enough to drink coffee--  Ha! So for me it's enjoy the tea...)
            A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life, being too busy to enjoy life and do all the things they would like to do, etc.. Offering his guests some coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it's normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that's the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that in most cases the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee, just more expense, and in some cases it even hides what we drink. "What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups ... and then began eyeing each other's cups.

            "Now consider this: Life is the coffee: the jobs, the money and the position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

            Here's a takeaway: God brews the coffee, not the cups. Slow down, take a deep breath, relax  and enjoy your coffee (or tea).

God is Good All The Time!

Jason Yarbrough

Looking for answers to Life's Hard Questions? visit http://www.truelife.org/

and watch video answers from experts in their fields.

Want to know what the most important thing is in my life?

Then visit www.mostimportantthing.org and enter my name.

Want to know what is happening at FBC Glenpool?

Take a few minutes and visit our website www.fbcglenpool.com

            Do you ever wonder what the story is behind some of the songs we sing? As we approach Thanksgiving let me share with you a story that comes from the book, "Then Sings My Soul," by Robert Morgan. It's about the hymn, "Count Your Blessings," written by Johnson Oatman.

            Johnson was born in New Jersey just before the Civil War. His father had a powerful voice which some people claimed was the best singing voice in the East. That's why, as a boy, Johnson, Jr., always wanted to stand beside his father in church. As a young man Johnson stood beside his father in another way. He became a partner in Johnson Oatman and Son, his dad's mercantile business. At age 19, Johnson joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and was ordained into the ministry. He preached often, but never entered the fulltime pastorate. He enjoyed the business world and it paid the bills which gave him the freedom to minister without cost.

            In 1892, with his father's voice undoubtedly ringing in his memory, Johnson began writing hymns. He averaged 200 hymns and gospel songs a year - 5,000 during the course of his lifetime. Among them: "Higher Ground," "No, Not One," "The Last Mile of the Way," and "Count Your Blessings," which was published in a song book for young people in 1897. It reflected Johnson's optimistic faith and the fact that he believed it is impossible to be thankful and, at the same time grumpy, cantankerous, critical or ill-tempered.

            Grab a song book and find the hymn, "Count Your Blessings," (or Google the title) and read the words. Then spend some time doing what it tells us to do: "Count your many blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Don't let another day go by without spending some time in thanksgiving to the Lord!

God is Good All The Time!

Jason Yarbrough

Looking for answers to Life's Hard Questions? visit http://www.truelife.org/

and watch video answers from experts in their fields.

Want to know what the most important thing is in my life?

Then visit www.mostimportantthing.org and enter my name.

Want to know what is happening at FBC Glenpool?

Take a few minutes and visit our website www.fbcglenpool.com