President Landers

<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style='tab-interval:.5in' topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <div class=Section1> <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='mso-cellspacing:0in; mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <tr style='height:67.5pt'> <td colspan=2 valign=top style='background:#006699;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:67.5pt' TEXT="#080000" background=058fd5a3.jpg> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Arial; color:black'>The Southern Methodist Church</span>     |     </b><a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/index.htm" target="_top" title="The Southern Methodist Church"><b>home</b></a></p> <p class=MsoNormal>back to  <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id41.htm" target="_top" title="Our Administration"><b>Our Administration</b></a></p> <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id18.htm" target="_top" title="About Us">About Us</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id19.htm" target="_top" title="Our Ministries">Our Ministries</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id20.htm" target="_top" title=Conferences>Conferences</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id26.htm" target="_top" title="Related Links">Related Links</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id27.htm" target="_top" title="Contact Us">Contact Us</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id17.htm" target="_top" title=Calendar>Calendar</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id28.htm" target="_top" title="Other Helps">Other Helps</a>   |   <a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id72.htm" target="_top" title=Announcements>Announcements</a></p> </td> </tr> <tr style='height:292.5pt'> <td width=210 valign=top style='width:157.5pt;background:#FFCC66; padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:292.5pt' TEXT="#080000" background=059d2043.jpg> <p class=MsoNormal><b>President Landers</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id63.htm" target="_top" title="Director Clark">Director Clark</a></p> <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id64.htm" target="_top" title="Assistant Martin">Assistant Martin</a></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><img border=0 width=187 height=148 id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/063bb940.jpg" align=BOTTOM></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>Messages</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id76.htm" target="_top" title=". . . . if so be the Lord will be with m"><b>“. . . . if so be the Lord will be with me. . . .”</b></a></p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td valign=top style='background:white;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:292.5pt' TEXT="#080000"> <p class=MsoNormal><b><i>Rev. Bedford F. Landers</i></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>President of The Southern Methodist Church</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <nobr> <table border=0 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=0 width=645 style='width:483.75pt; mso-cellspacing:.7pt;border:outset 1.5pt;mso-padding-alt:1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt' bordercolorlight="#C0C0C0" bordercolordark="#808080" frame=BOX rules=ALL hspace=0 vspace=0> <tr style='height:261.0pt'> <td valign=top style='border:inset .75pt;padding:1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt; height:261.0pt'> <p class=MsoNormal>Education:   BA in Bible, </p> <p class=MsoNormal>                      Southern Methodist College</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                      Graduate Studies, </p> <p class=MsoNormal>                      Wesley Biblical Seminary</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Family:       Married to Linda, 2 children, 6 grandchildren</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Ministry:      3 years in Hilda, SC</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                    2 years in Madison, TN</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                    2 years in Albany, GA</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                    2 years in Jackson, TN</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                   15 years in Waynesboro, MS</p> <p class=MsoNormal>                    6 years in denominational administration<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td valign=top style='border:inset .75pt;padding:1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt; height:261.0pt'><nobr></nobr> <p class=MsoNormal><img border=0 width=233 height=342 id="_x0000_i1026" src="http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/0a8e9560.jpg" align=BOTTOM></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>Current Message</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Deceiving Yourself</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving (This word was used in mathematics to refer to a miscalculation. Professing Christians who are content with only hearing the Word have made a serious spiritual miscalculation.) your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. {deed: or, doing}</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>One of the great examples of one deceiving ones self, is found in Daniel 4:2931 KJV 29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. {in: or, upon} 30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Now Daniel reminds Belshazzar; Nebuchadnezzar's son that he knew all this but he also did not live the word. Daniel 5:2028 KJV 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: {in pride: or, to deal proudly} {deposed: Chaldee, made to come down} 21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. {his heart...: or, he made his heart equal, etc} 22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>One of the sadest commentaries in life, - is when one knows but does not do what he knows,  he is only deceiving himself --2 Peter 3:45 KJV 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: {standing: Gr. consisting} </b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>This translation makes it very plain, they willfully shut their eyes to the facts.): <b>2 Peter 3:45 TCNT  5 For they wilfully shut their eyes to the fact that long ago the heavens existed; and the earth, alsoformed out of water and by the action of water, by the fiat of God;) </b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Back to Daniel chapter 5: 23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know<b>: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:</b>  24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. (One minute you are here, the next you are gone. One minute you think you are in charge, the next you know you are not.)</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>The Word. - whenever you only hear it, you deceive yourself.   </b>1 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV 13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.<b>  I Thess. 2:13</b> 13 This, too, is a reason why we, on our part, are continually thanking Godbecause, in receiving the teaching that you had from us, you accepted it, not as the teaching of man, but as what it really isthe teaching of God, which is even now doing its work within you who believe in Christ</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>The Word of God includes:</b> saving (Rolm.10:17; 1 Pet. 1:23); teaching and training (2 Tim. 3:16,17); guiding (Ps. 119:105); counseling (Ps.119:24); reviving (Ps. 119:54); restoring (Ps. 197); warning and rewarding (Ps. 1911); nourshing (1Pet.2:2); judging (Heb.4:12); sanctifying (John17:17); freeing (John 8:31,32); enriching (col.3:16); protecting (Ps.119:11); strengthening (Ps.119:28); making wise (Ps.119:17-100); rejoicing the heart (Ps. 19:8); and prospering (Josh.1:8,9).</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>The Word is Alive. </b>Romans 10:17 KJV 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 KJV 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>We deceive ourselves when we only hear the Word and do not do it.<b> </b>Luke 12:1621 KJV 16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, <b>(</b>What are you involved in right now that is keeping you from God? How are you being deceived - work, play, pleasure, money, business, football, TV??? And no time for God?<b>) </b>Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? {thy...: Gr. do they require thy soul} 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Did you hear, Johnny Cash died? John Ritter died? June Carter Cash died? But they were rich, famous, and powerful. Yes, but they died!</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>What happens when we do not live for Jesus. Luke 6:4649 KJV 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>(Do you know how many people just go to church and hear the word but do nothing with it?) 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not,<b> </b>is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Without a foundation life has nothing to stand on  -“ Had you been on the British Coast in 1845 you might have seen two ships boarded by 138 of England's finest sailors setting sail for the Arctic. Their task? To chart the Northwest Passage around the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>The captain, Sir John Franklin, hoped this effort would be the turning point in Arctic exploration. History shows that it was. Not because of its success, but because of its failure. The ships never returned. Every crew member perished. And those who followed in the expedition's path to the pole learned this lesson: Prepare for the journey. </p> <p class=MsoNormal>Apparently Franklin didn't. Though the voyage was projected to last two or three years, he only carried a twelve-day supply of coal for the auxiliary steam engines. But what he lacked in fuel, he made up for in entertainment. Each ship carried a “1,200 volume library, a hand-organ, china place settings for officers and men, cut-glass wine goblets and sterling silver flatware.”</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>The sailors carried no special clothing to protect them againts the cold. Only the uniforms of Her Majesty's fleet. The silver knives, forks, and spoons were as ornate as those found in the dining rooms of the royal Navy officers clubs: heavy at the handles, intricately designed. Years later, some of these place settings would be found near a clump of frozen, cannibalized bodies. The inevitable had occurred. The two ships had sailed ill prepared into the frigid waters. Ice coated the deck, the spares and the rigging. The sea froze around the rudder and trapped the ship. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>The sailors set out to search for help, wearing their uniforms and carrying their belongings. Inuit Indians reported seeing a group dragging a wooden boat across the ice. For the next twenty years, remains of the expedition were found all over the frozen sea. The boat, or a similar one, was later discovered containing the bodies of thirty-five men. Other Indians discovered a tent on the ice and in it, thirty bodies. </p> <p class=MsoNormal>Franklin died on the boat. Search parties would later find a piece of the backgammon board Lady Jane Franklin had given her husband as a farewell present. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Many miles from the vessel, the skeleton of a frozen officer was discovered, still wearing trousers and jacket of “fine blue cloth. . . .edged with silk braid, with sleeves slashed and bearing five buttons each.” Over his uniform the dead man had worn a blue greatcoat, with a black silk neckerchief. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Strange how men could embark on such a journey ill-prepared, more equipped for afternoon tea than for the open sea. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Stranger still how we do the same. Don't Franklin's men remind you of us? We sometimes act as if the Christian life is a retirement cruise. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>a.</b> We have little fuel but lots of entertainment. Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  (KJV)</p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>b.</b> We are more concerned with looking snappy than with being prepared. 1 Timothy 4:8 KJV<b> </b>8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. {little: or, for a little time}</p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>c.</b> We give more thought to tables settings than to surviving the journey. Matthew 6:1920 KJV 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:</p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>d.</b> We give little thought to the destination, but we make sure there's plenty of silver to go around. <b>(</b>This world is not our home. To feel unwelcome is no tragedy. Indeed it is healthy. We are not home here. This language we speak, it's not ours. This body we wear, it isn't us. And the world we live in, this isn't home.) (Source unknown) </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>Phil 3:19</b> (TLB)  (used for emphasis) Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth.  20 But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there. 21 When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.  John 14:23 KJV 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Live the Word: James 1: 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: </p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Are you deceiving yourself? Come to church, Sunday after Sunday but the Word does not change you. Some day, some day I'm going to receive Christ, I'm going to get baptized, and I'm going to start living for the Lord. But right now I am to busy, too young, to much living to do.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Acts 24:2425 KJV 24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered,<b> </b>Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. But history is silent about where Felix is spending eternity. Be sure that you obey the Word of God and  know where you will spend eternity. </p> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> </div> </body>