RUSSELL SANDERS

11-4-2025

CHOOSE MERCIFUL WORDS

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God instructs us to “call no man a fool.” However, the Bible clearly defines the atheist as a fool. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart ‘there is no God.’”

Neither you nor I said it. God said it. Yet, you and I must be careful not to quote Psalm 141:1 as if it were our own opinion. We are not God, so we cannot call any person a fool. We can only quote the scripture of what God Himself said. We do not know all that God knows, because we cannot truly see a person’s heart the way He can. We often think that we know, but we really do not know.

Only God knows the secrets of a person’s heart. We judge them by the externals, but God sees the internals. We should be careful to judge no man. We must be merciful because God is merciful. His mercy has no end and no limit. Our mercy has limits.

Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” This is the opposite of the popular secular saying “what goes around, comes around." Be careful of what you say because words are powerful. Proverbs 18:21a says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

We should not be critical of others with our words. Show mercy and love to others; even to those we dislike. God loves them whether we do or not.

HELEN SANDERS

11-4-2025

NEW WINESKINS

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In the bible days they did not have refrigeration like we have now. They grew their own food or bought it daily in the marketplace. They kept their wine (fruit of the vine) in animal skins. When wine was first produced it needed to be put into a new wineskin because it would expand. A new wineskin would expand with the wine and would not break. If they put the new wine into the old wineskin that had already expanded, the new wine would try to  expand and cause the old wineskin to break and become useless.

Jesus talks about this in Matthew 9:17, where it says, “Neither do men put new wine into old bottles (wineskins) else the bottles (wineskins) break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles (wineskins) perish (are ruined): but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”

He is speaking a parable describing salvation. You cannot put the new things of God into our old nature. We must be born again and then be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to keep yourselves from being destroyed.

We must constantly be mindful to put away the old things and be ready for the new. Just like salvation that comes to a person and makes them new, letting go of our victories and our failures will allow us to grow. Let’s not dwell upon “what was” but rather be ready for the new things that God is going to do in our lives.

Let us be like those new wineskins, willing and ready to expand as the Holy Spirit invades every part of our lives. Let’s not let fear keep us in that old wineskin, and let’s not bring the old wine into a new day. Each day we must be willing to expand with God!