1 Corinthians 13

Love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

One Thing I Know

Something in your eyes I see

Reminds me of what used to be

When I was still uncertain of the truthh

Sleepless nights that turned to days

Alone inside an endless space

Counting on someone to see me through

CHORUS:

And if there's one thing I know

It's that you were never left alone

'Cause you can always count on Jesus' name

And if there's one thing I pray

It's that Jesus helps you find a way

To make a change and listen to your heart

God will take away your pain if you choose to let it go

if there's one thing I know

How can I convince your heart?

His light can find you in the dark

And only He can make your blind eyes see

For if we speak of lost things found

Or lives that have been turned around

Then tell me who knows better child than me

CHORUS

BRIDGE:

I would never state my life on any lesser thing

Then the cross of Christ where He gave His life to ease my suffering

CHORUS

A Story About Prayer

A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.

When the minister arrived, she found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me," he said. "No, who are you?" said the father.

"I'm the new minister at your church," she replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to come." "Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the minister shut the door. "I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man.

"But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, 'John, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in

front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because He promised, "I'll be with youalways." Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now."

So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.

" The minister was deeply moved by the story & encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then she prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon. "Did he die in peace?" she asked. "Yes, when I left the house about two o' clock, he called me over bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death.

Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. "What do you make of that?" The minister wiped a tear from her eye and said,

"I wish we could all go like that." "So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.

That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. We live by faith, not by sight."

(2 Corinthians 5:6-8)