Family members you wish to influence for God see you close up - warts and all. It's no good to try to find excuses for unecceptable and un-Christian behaviour by saying, "I'm only human", "no one's perfect", "God forgives" - as though that gives an excuse to continue.

There needs to be the humility of recognizing areas needing growth, seeking forgiveness, making heroic efforts to improve.

The literal meaning of "sincere" is, "without wax". This referrs to sculpturing nicks which are filled with wax by the amateur artist, but which readily come to light in the hot, melting sun when the statue is placed out in the garden.

EXCUSES

Excuses, excuses, you hear them everyday.

Now, the devil he'll supply them, if from church you stay away.

When people come to know the Lord, the devil always loses,

So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses!

In the summer, it's too hot, and in the winter, it's too cold.

And in the springtime, when the weather's just right,

You find some place else to go. Well, it's up to the mountain

Or down to the beach or to visit some old friend,

Or just to stay home and kinda relax and hope some of the kinfolks drop in.

Well, the church bench is too hard, and that choir sings way too loud.

And, boy, you know how nervous you can get when your settin' in a great big crowd.

The doctor told you you'd better watch them crowds, they'll set you back,

But you go to that ballgame, cause you say it helps you to relax.

Well, you have a headache Sunday morning and a backache Sunday night.

By worktime Monday morning, you're feeling quite all right.

Well, one of the children has a cold, pneumonia, do you suppose?

Why the whole family had to stay home, just to blow that poor kids nose!

The preacher, he's too young, maybe he's too old.

His sermons, they're not fired enough, or maybe their too bold.

His voice is much too quiet, sometimes he gets too loud,

He needs to have more dignity or else he's way too proud.

His sermons, they're too long. Maybe, they're too short.

He ought to preach the Word with dignity, instead of stomp and snort.

Well, that preacher we got must be the world's most stuck up man.

Why, one of the members told me the other day,

"Why, he didn't even shake my hand."

Worry

Anxiety is one of the biggest threats to our way of life. 4-10 million Americans are subject to panic level anxiety attacks, defined as:

"An inner sensation that something dreadful and frightening is going to happen." "Apprehension, tension, or uneasiness that stems from the anticipation of danger."

"Sometimes accompanied by heart palpitations, nausea, feelings of suffocation . . . all with no apparent cause."

Here's one example: A 29 year old secretary picked up the phone to check on an order, a routine task. She reported that her "hands shook", palms sweat, there was a feeling of terror, so she put down the phone ..."

Sometimes anxiety begins to be associated with a place or activity, or fear it will come on in this place, such as a car, etc. The result is often avoidance, ultimately, "agoraphobia", a "fear of the market place."

Anxiety is usually future oriented, a concern with what will happen next.

Jesus speaks these words in response to anxiety:

"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear." Matthew 6:25.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour (or cubit, i.e., unchangeable feature) to his life?" Matthew 6:27.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

"I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years, I couldn't begin to count them all. But one thing sticks in my mind, at those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was almost finished, a server or maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes. I can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder and whisper, 'You can keep your fork.' Do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming! It didn't mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don't need a fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come! That's exactly what I want people to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all the good times we had together. That would be nice. But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want them to turn to one another and say, 'Why the fork'? That's what I want you to say, I want you to tell them, that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come!"