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<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">“<b>TWO
ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Jim
& Marie Watt</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Tel:
<a href="tel:253-517-9195" target="_blank">253-517-9195</a> - Email:
<a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com" target="_blank">jmbetter@gmail.com</a></b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Web:
<a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/" target="_blank">www.2rbetter.org</a></b></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">December 15, 2012</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
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</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>JUL
25 - 1 CORINTHIANS 3:2b-4:21 - NATURE OF MINISTRIES</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>1.
3:6 (3:2b-9) MINISTRIES: THEIR UNITY. <font size="3">“I planted,
Apollos watered; but :God gave increase.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
this is a secret of Your Kingdom: we are fellow-laborers, but the
spring is from You. We acknowledge You alone as the foundation of
Your Kingdom in the Spirit. </span><b><i>Hallowed be your :name!</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>2.
3:16-17 (3:10-17) MINISTRY OF A MASTER-BUILDER: LAYING CHRIST AS
FOUNDATION. <font size="3">“Know you not that you are God’s
sanctuary, and the Spirit of :God dwells in you? </font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1">17
</font><font size="3">If any corrupts the sanctuary of :God, him shall
:God corrupt; for the sanctuary of God is holy, which you are.”
</font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">This is Your will
Father, even our sanctification in our bodies! </span><b><i>Your
:kingdom come.</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>3.
3:19 (3:18-23) MINISTRIES: TO BE RECEIVEDALL. <font size="3">“For
the wisdom of this :world is foolishness with :God. For it is
written, Who takes the wise in their :craftiness.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Yes
Father, and You meet the needs of all Your varied types of
ministries, all complementing one another. </span><b><i>Your :will be
done, As in heaven, so on earth.</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>4.
4:1-2 (4:1-5) MINISTERS: FAITHFULNESS IN STEWARDSHIP. <font size="3">“Let
a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of
God’s mysteries. </font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1">2 </font><font size="3">Here,
moreover, it is required in the stewards, that one be found
faithful.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Part of
our faithfulness Father, is walking in </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">reconciliation</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
with You and with one another. Through You we love our enemies! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
:daily :bread Give us this day.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">5.
4:7 (4:6-13) MINISTRY OF PAUL AND APOLLOS: AN ANALOGY. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">For
who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you did not
receive? but if you did receive, why do you glory as if you had not
received?” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
evermore keep this insight in our hearts. We would walk in humility
before You. We would constantly walk in the security of Your armor!
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And forgive
us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">6.
4:15-16 (4:14-17) MINISTERS: AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“For
though you may have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many
fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the gospel. </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">16
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">I
beseech you therefore, </span></font><font size="3"><u>become imitators
of me</u></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">.”
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
we thank You for the example of Your servant Paul. In him we see the
power of an overcoming life. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
bring us not into temptation.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">7.
4:20 (4:18-21) MINISTERS: TO DEMONSTRATE KINGDOM IN POWER. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“For
the kingdom of :God is not in word, but in power.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Thank
You Father, that You deliver us from a powerless Gospel! Your Gospel
is the power of God unto salvation! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">But
deliver us from the evil </span></i><span style="text-decoration:none">one!</span></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><u><b>NOTE</b></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>:
4:17 (4:14-17) MINISTRY OF PAUL: TRANSFERRED THROUGH TIMOTHY. </b></span><b><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“For
this </span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none">cause</span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">
I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved child and faithful in </span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none">the</span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">
Lord, who shall remind you of my :ways which </span></font><font size="3"><i><span style="text-decoration:none">are
</span></i></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">in
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">Christ
Jesus, even as I teach everywhere in every church. </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
if Paul could lead Timothy to be like himself in You, any one of us
can be led likewise! We choose to become like Paul and Timothy. </span></span></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
Psalm for the day: 25:14 (25) </span><span style="text-decoration:none">TEACH
ME YOUR PATHS. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“The
friendship (or secret counsel) of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes know</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">n</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">
to them his covenant.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Your
secrets are You</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">r</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
mysteries Father; and in Jesus You reveal them to us. Your Covenant
is </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">also</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
in Christ (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8), and Your fear unlocks Him, the Living
Covenant. </span></span></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Quote
from C.H. Spurgeon, in the light of what happened in Connecticut
December 14, 2012.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">The
Hour is Coming - John 5:25</span></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">I
have, in my imagination, looked on all whom I know on the earth, and
I have said, they are dying creatures. This is always true, but we
often forget it. Yet when a precious one is taken, we begin to
realize this truth. Thinking about this, I seem to see a passing
procession. I remember many who have passed - a long array of my
Master’s servants - some carrying His banner high, others marching
with swords drawn, and some weak and feeble being helped by sturdy
champions. They are gone, and I will never see them here again. Some
of you are also passing away. More are coming, but they are also
going. I said that I was looking at this procession. But that is
incorrect, for I am in the procession. I am passing with the rest.
What shadows we are! What fleeting things! What mists! What paintings
on a cloud! We can scarcely sa</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">y</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
that we live; for the moment we begin to live, we begin to die. This
earth is not the land of the living. This is a dying world. The
living world is beyond death’s cold river. Here graves are
innumerable, and death rules all. No! That is not true. For
there i</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">s</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
One who rules death. Death has no power over the living God. Death is
His servant. It is through death that we pass into life. By the death
of our redeeming Lord, we have been rescued from destruction. From
everything that wears the aspect of death, we can turn to Him, Jesus
Christ, who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews
13:8).</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">PSALM
25 - Title: “A Psalm of David.” </span></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">David
is pictured in this Psalm as in a faithful miniature. His holy trust,
his many conflicts, his great transgression, his bitter repentance,
and his deep distresses are all here; so that we see the very heart
of “the man after God’s own heart.” It is evidently a
composition of David’s later days, for he mentions the sins of his
youth, and from its painful references to the craft and cruelty of
his many foes, it will not be too speculative a theory to refer it to
the period when Absalom was heading the great rebellion against him.
This has been styled the second of the seven Penitential Psalms. It
is the mark of a true saint that his sorrows remind him of his sins,
and his sorrow for sin drives him to his God.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">25:1
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Unto You, O
Lord, do I lift up my soul.</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
See how the holy soul flies to its God like a dove to its cote. When
the storm-winds are out, the Lord’s vessels put about and make for
their well-remembered harbor of refuge. What a mercy that the Lord
will condescend to hear our cries in time of trouble, although we may
have almost forgotten him in our hours of fancied prosperity! Very
often the soul cannot rise; she has lost her wings, and is heavy and
earth-bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such
dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God’s
assistance, exert all our powers to lift up our hearts. Let faith be
the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be
stirred. But what a lift it has sometimes proved! With all our
tugging and straining, we have been utterly defeated, until the
heavenly loadstone of our Savior’s love has displayed it</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">s</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts have gone up to our
Beloved like mounting flames of fire.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">25:7.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Remember not
the sins of my youth. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">The
world winks at the sins of young men, and yet they are none so little
after all; the bones of our youthful feastings at Satan’s table
will stick painfully in our throats when we are old men. He who
presumes upon his youth is poisoning his old age. How large a tear
may wet this page as some of us reflect upon the past!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">25:14.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear Him. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Some
read it “the friendship”: it signifies familiar intercourse,
confidential intimacy, and select fellowship. This is a great secret.
Carnal minds cannot guess what is intended by it, and even believers
cannot explain it in words, for it must be felt to be known.
The higher spiritual life is necessarily a path which the eagle’s
eye has not known, and which the lion’s whelp has not traveled;
neither natural wisdom nor strength can force a door into this inner
chamber. Saints have the key of heaven’s hieroglyphics; they can
unriddle celestial enigmas. They are initiated into the fellowship of
the skies; they have heard words which it is not possible for them to
repeat to their fellows.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">25:20.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">O keep my
soul out of evil, and deliver me </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">when
I fall into it. This is another version of the prayer, “Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Let
me not be ashamed</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">.
This is the one fear which like a ghost haunted the Psalmist’s
mind. He trembled lest his faith should become the subject of
ridicule through the extremity of his affliction. Noble hearts can
brook anything but shame. David was of such a chivalrous spirit that
he could endure any torment rather than to be put to dishonor.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
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<br>
</p>
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