"Gleanings on The Sawdust Trail" - Dr. Chuck Cofy

02.20.08

CHECK OUT BARRACK OBAMA'S CHURCH (TRINITY, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST) AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT FROM A WHITE ORIENTED CHURCH IN AMERICA WITH THIS SAME PLATFORM. I CAN ANSWER IT FOR YOU...........IT WOULD BE CLASSIFIED AS A "KLAN" CHURCH, ATTACKED BY JESSE JACKSON, THE ACLU, NAACP, SNICK, RAINBOW COALITION, AND WHOLE HOST OF OTHERS . ONLY IN AMERICA CAN LIBERALS BE SO BLINDED AND HOODWINKED!

About Us

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

12.18.07

MY DEVOTION SUNDAY MORNING WHILE IN SUMTER, SC PROVIDED ME WITH THIS VERY CLEAR REMINDER THAT MAN HAS NOT, AND WILL NOT, LEARN TO LEAVE GOD'S WORD ALONE! THIS COMMENTARY ON PROVE 30:4-6 IS MOST INTERESTING.

Verse 4 emphasized man’s inability to know by himself the nature of God. Now verses 5-6 show how God may be known: through His Word, which is flawless (lit., “purified” like the smelting of silver; cf. Ps. 12:6). Man can know God only because He has revealed Himself through the written Word, the infallible Scriptures. Those who trust in God have a personal relationship with Him; they are shielded by Him. Proverbs 30:5 is almost identical to Psalm 18:30. The warning not to add to His words may refer to the danger of adding human speculation to divine revelation. Man should derive his understanding of God (his theology) not from human ideas but from God’s Word. God rebukes those who think they can know more of God than what He has revealed about Himself. In fact they are often so far off base that God calls them liars.

Comment: It is my profound belief that those that have tampered with the Word of God in times past as well as those that presently do so on a continual basis are best described in the last sentence!

11.27.07

Redskins' Taylor Dies After Shooting
AP
Posted: 2007-11-27 11:10:18
Filed Under: NFL

MIAMI (Nov. 27) - Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday, a day after the Pro Bowl player was shot at home by what police say was an intruder. He was 24. Family friend Richard Sharpstein said Taylor's father told him the news around 5:30 a.m.

"His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me," said Sharpstein, Taylor's former lawyer. "It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans."

THIS OBVIOUSLY IS A VERY SAD COMMENTARY BUT SEAN’S LIFESTYLE HARDLY PLACES HIM IN HEAVEN WITH CHRIST AS THIS ARTICLE SO STATES. WHILE WE SORROW FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY WE MUST NEVER FORGET THAT HEAVEN DOES NOT AWAIT ONE BECAUSE ONE IS A HUMBLE FOOTBALL PLAYER BUT RATHER ONE WHO HAS ACCEPTED THE LORD JESUS AS SAVIOUR AND REPENTED OF ONE’S SINS. THE LIFE IS THEN TURNED AROUND AND OLD THINGS PASS AWAY AND ALL THINGS BECOME NEW. I READ IN ANOTHER ARTICLE ABOUT HIS PROBLEMS WITH THE LAW, HIS INCARCERATION, HIS CHILD OUT OF WEDLOCK AND THE GIRLFRIEND THAT HE WAS SHACKED UP WITH WHEN SHOT. ALL OF THIS BELIES THE LIFE OF A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN. THIS KIND OF LIFESTYLE BELONGS TO THE LOST AND UNDONE. WE MUST KEEP FIRING AWAY AT THIS TWENTY FIRST CENTURY LIFE STYLE AS OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE HEARING IT SO OFTEN THEY CAN VERY EASILY BELIEVE THAT ONE CAN LIVE LIKE HELL AND STILL HAVE HEAVEN AS THEIR HOME. NOT SO, A MILLION TIMES NOT SO! AS SAD AS THIS DEATH IS THERE IS VERY LITTLE HERE THAT DESCRIBES THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN. WE FIND NO ONE IN THE BIBLE THAT FITS THIS DESCRIPTION. WE SHOULD AND MUST PRAY FOR THE FAMILY THAT THIS DEATH WILL SPEAK TO THEIR HEARTS ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL. - CC

10.10.07

HONESTY

Honest differences of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy-making among free men. --Herbert Hoover

Some people wonder why their children are such liars. If they'd look into a mirror they'd probably see the reason. - D.L. Moody

Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. --Thomas Paine

O God, help us not to despise or oppose what we do not understand. -Penn

Ay, sir: to be honest as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of a thousand.
-Shakespeare

09.17.2007

A PASTOR FRIEND OF MINE CALLED THE OTHER DAY AND WANTED TO TALK ABOUT LEADERSHIP AS HE WAS ASSISTING A YOUNG MAN WHO IS GOING TO THE MISSION FIELD. HE ASKED IF I HAD ANY THOUGHTS THAT MIGHT HELP IN THIS PROCESS. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME MUSINGS THAT PASSED BETWEEN HE AND I:

SOMEONE ONCE SAID:

WHAT YOU SAY - IS INSTRUCTION
WHAT YOU DO - IS INFLUENCE
WHAT YOU ARE - IS IMAGE
WHAT YOU BECOME - IS IMPACT

SOMEONE ALSO SAID:

LEAVE THEM WHERE THEY ARE!
LOVE THEM WHERE THEY ARE!
LEAD THEM TO WHERE THEY NEED TO GO!

NEVER ASK ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING THAT YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DO YOURSELF.
NEVER TELL THEM TO GO RATHER ASK THEM TO COME WITH "YOU".
ROBERT E. LEE SAID IT BEST WHEN HE WAS SPEAKING ABOUT SENIORITY.... "THE SENIOR NEVER THINKS ABOUT IT BUT THE JUNIOR NEVER FORGETS IT." IN OTHER WORDS NEVER KEEP REMINDING YOUR FOLLOWERS THAT YOU ARE THE LEADER ("THE PASTOR") THEY ALREADY KNOW AND YOU SHOULD BE COMFORTABLE AND ASSURED IN THE PLACE THAT GOD HAS YOU.
LOVE THEM NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE AND ALWAYS TREAT EVERYONE FAIRLY.
NEVER HAVE "YOUR SPECIALS" OR YOUR SO-CALLED INNER CROWD.
BE CAREFUL OF THOSE "SECRET SOCIETY" STAND AROUND WHEN WITH OTHERS.
MAKE UP YOUR MIND TO KNOW THE GOOD GUYS MORE THAN YOU KNOW THE BAD GUYS.
EVEN IF YOU ARE THE LEADER BE A PART OF ANY DIFFICULT TASK AT HAND......GET YOUR UNIFORM OR SUIT OFF AND TURN TO! LEAD THE WAY! THE RESULTS ARE ALWAYS REWARDING!
ALWAYS ACT LIKE A LEADER, EVEN WITH THOSE THAT DISAGREE WITH YOU. REMEMBER IN DISAGREEMENT THE ACTIONS BY OTHERS ARE SHARPENING YOU FOR THE TASK AHEAD.
BE FIRM AS A LEADER BUT NEVER ACT LIKE A DICTATOR. TRY NOT TO ACT LIKE A NAPOLEON AND LOP OFF THE HEADS OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT IN AGREEMENT WITH YOU.
IF YOU HAVE A PLAN FOR ALL TO FOLLOW, THEN YOU YOURSELF MUST FOLLOW THE PLAN. YOU ARE NOT ABOVE THE SYSTEM!
REMEMBER YOU CAN ONLY LEAD FROM THE FRONT, NEVER FROM THE REAR. AND, WHEN YOUR FOLLOWERS LEAVE YOU, YOU ARE SOON FINISHED.
PLAN TO GO TO THE TOP AND PLAN TO TAKE OTHERS WITH YOU.
IF YOU PROFESS TO BE A LEADER, YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PRODUCE LEADERS YOURSELF. THE REAL LEADER IS NEVER "LONELY AT THE TOP" FOR HIS LEADERSHIP WILL HAVE BROUGHT OTHERS ALONG WHO SHARE IN THIS LEADERSHIP.
THE INSECURE MAN WILL NEVER TRUST LEADERSHIP IN OTHERS LIVES.

09.08.2007

Zechariah asked......... For who hath despised the day of small things? (4:10) AND.... Haggi asked...." Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" (2:3)

I LIKE WHAT MATTHEW POOLE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THESE KINDS OF PEOPLE............." And now for those that despised small beginnings; who they are is well known, and to them I say, and promise what they expected not. "

ADAM CLARKE ALSO PROVIDED ........."Who hath despised the day of small things?] The poverty, weakness, and unbefriended state of the Jews. It was said, "What do these feeble Jews?" "Will they build," &c.? No. But God will build by them, and perfect his building too.

WHEN I HEAR DISPARAGING REMARKS ABOUT THE SMALL WORKS OF GOOD AND GODLY MEN I ALWAYS WONDER, " WHO TAUGHT THESE PEOPLE?" - "WHAT SCHOOL DID THEY ATTEND?" AND "WHAT DOES THEIR SCHOOL BELIEVE IF THEY ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF IT'S GRADUATES?. I RECENTLY HEARD A CONDESCENDING REMARK ABOUT THE SMALL CHURCH WHEN IT WAS DESCRIBED AS BEING "ABOUT THE SIZE OF A LARGE MORMON FAMILY." THE THRUST OF THIS COMMENT WAS THAT IF IT DID NOT HAVE SIZE IT REALLY DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING. HOGWASH!

GOD HELP US TO NOT TO BE CARRIED AWAY BY "MEGA PEOPLE" BUT STRIVE FOR WHAT GOD HAS FOR US - LARGE OR SMALL! MAKE US A BLESSING IN ALL THAT WE DO AND LET US NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT OTHERS DO OR TRY TO EMULATE THEIR WORK IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER!

GIVE US GOD WHAT YOU HAVE FOR US, NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS!