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This is part two of our study on giving God glory, or how to give God glory. Now, the ultimate question of the meaning of existence is answered many ways by many voices. Some people say, for example, that we're...we're here in this world, and it's all a result of a cosmic accident. That we really don't mean anything. Some kind of a fortuitous concourse of random atoms came together and began to perpetrate the evolutionary cycle, and here we are. Recently, we've all been told via the Chariot of the Gods, that we were brought here by beings from another planet who arrived in Peru in space ships. They landed there some millennia ago and left life, which propagated itself to the degree that we know existence today. And that just transfers the problem to another planet.
Now, some people would say, "No, we do have a purpose, but it's just not too clear what it is. There is a cosmic power somewhere, but he is impersonal, detached, amoral, and relatively uninterested." Now, whether you accept the total atheistic view of evolution, or whether you wanna transfer it to another planet and buy the...the Chariot of the Gods kind of theory, or whether you're gonna allow for some kind of a deistic god, who at least is responsible for the machinery, if not involved in its operation, you're going to find that, in all of those cases, there really isn't any meaning to life. None of those solutions offers us the slightest idea of why we're here.
You know, if you're thinking person, you can only live with that so long. And if there is no ultimate meaning to your life, then you will impose on your life some meaning. You have to. And so people live for all kinds of things, which they, themselves decide to live for. Some people live for hate. They just exist to hate. Other people exist for love. They live for love. Some people live for family. Some people live for friends. Some people live for their job, their work. Some people live for travel, for money, for fame, for success, for lust, for science, for education, for booze, for drugs, for a hobby, for Saturday...for Sunday. There's all kinds of...of imposed meanings placed on life, and you can understand why people do that. And what they try to do is take the meaningless of life and jam it back into the subconscious, and in the conscious mind put some kind of substance which allows them to look at themselves as something more than protoplasm waiting to become manure. And it's important that man be able to do that.
But, you know, when you get into the Bible, and you get into Christianity, you find out that there is a reason for living. That there is a meaning to existence. And it is this, and it's said in the old catechism this way: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." That's the meaning of existence. God made us because He wanted to display His glory. And in return for us being willing, He allows us the thrill of enjoying all of His fullness forever. That's the meaning of existence. And until a man comes to the place where he lives purposefully to the glory of God, he does not have any meaning to his existence.
Now, we saw last time that the Westminster Shorter catechism had stated in a question and answer kind of dialogue, the basis of theology. To many Christians through many centuries, this was the pattern of learning. And we saw that the word "catechism" comes from the Greek word katakaowhich means, really, to catechize or to instruct by repetitious oral teaching. And this is a good Biblical term used in the New Testament for instruction. And we said that the catechism began with this first thing: "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." And we said we agreed with that. That that is true. That is man's chief end.
You say, "But that's a statement of theology written by men. That's not a Bible verse." Well, there is a Bible verse, Psalm 16:8 and 9, and I think it just crystallizes into Biblical authority, that same truth that says this: "I have set the Lord always before me." That means I live to give Him glory. "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices." Now, there you have the same two things. "I live for the glory of God." Result, "I enjoy God's person to the fullest."
We're just gonna take those two parts to our little study. First of all, to glorify God. Secondly, to enjoy Him. Now, first of all we started with to glorify God. You have a little outline. It's perforated there in your bulletin. You can keep, and you can write some things down. We just really...the outline is kinda sketchy and scratchy, because this whole message is kind of in the process of evolving. And, in fact, as I go along, in many senses the Lord has been bringing things to my memory. But to begin with, we were talking about to glorify God. What's involved in that? We said we needed to cover three things: what, why, and how. What does it mean to glorify God? Why should I glorify God? And how do I glorify God?
Now, you remember, and we're reviewing now from last time, that we saw that when we said, "What do we mean by God's glory," we had to give two answers. First of all, there is glory which God has in Himself that I can't give Him. In other words, there is intrinsic glory. For example, Acts 7:2 says that, "God is the God of glory." And in Isaiah 6, you know, the angels are saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts," and praising Him and giving Him glory and all that there in that passage. And this is God's glory by virtue of His nature. I don't give it to Him. He has it if I don't even exist. Right? This is who He is. He is the God of glory. If nobody in the world ever acknowledged it, it would still be so. And we covered many passages in that study to show that God is a God of glory by virtue of who He is. Glory meaning the manifestation of all of His attributes. And that's who God is.
But, secondly, there is a glory given God by His creatures...There is a glory given God by His creatures. Now, notice, beloved, this does not mean that we add to His nature anything. Right? And we pointed out the statement of Paul to Titus that the believer does not adorn God, but he adorns what? The doctrine of God. In other words, giving glory to God is not adding to God's nature, but it is...it is revealing God's nature to the watching world that they may recognize His glory. You see? You and I are channels. We are, perhaps a better definition, we are display windows in which God wants to reveal His glory to the world as they pass by us.
Now, in 1 Chronicles 16:24, we see these two facets of glory put together in the same passage. And you could look at many passages, but this is just one. First Chronicles 16:24, listen. "Declare His glory among the nations." Now look at verse 27. "Glory and honor are in His presence." Now, stop there for a minute. He says here, "God is a God of glory. Glory and honor belongs to God." You don't give it to Him. You just declare it. Okay? God doesn't need us to give Him glory. That's intrinsic to His nature...Not that kind of glory. We cannot add to God. He simply says here, "Declare it." It's a fact. But then he says, "Give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people. Give unto the Lord glory." Verse 29, "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name." Then, "Worship the Lord in the beauty of... what?...holiness."
Now, what's he saying? He's saying God has intrinsic glory, but you can actually, in the eyes of the world, exalt God when you live a holy life. So it is not that we're adding to His nature. It is simply that we are allowing God to be visible to the world as we live lives that reveal His glory. And there's only one way to do that, friends, and that's to have Him living through us, right? That's to be, according to Ephesians 3, "Filled with all the fullness of God." And then in verse 21, he says, "Unto whom be glory in the church." In other words, we, the church, have been designed by God to be a vehicle though which He can display His glory...That's our purpose. We're commanded to respond to that end.
So then, when we're talking about God's glory, there is that glory which is His intrinsically. And there is that glory which we give Him, not in the sense that we add to His nature, but in the sense that we bring His glory to the attention of the watching world, who, in turn, can recognize Him for who He is. Perhaps best defined in a simple statement of Jesus in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and...what?...glorify your Father who's in Heaven." That is our calling in terms of giving Him glory.
Now, what about the why? We see what it means to give Him glory. And, again, we're reviewing. Why are we to give Him glory? Three reasons I gave you last time. One, because He made us, and He deserves it. Romans 11:36 says, "For of Him and through Him are all things to whom be glory forever." In other words, Paul glorifies God for creating everything. So we are to glorify Him because He made us, and He deserves it. I mean anyone who could...who could what He did deserves our praise.
Secondly, because He made us to glorify Him. He didn't just make us, He made us to glorify Him. In fact, in Proverbs 16 verse 4, it says, "The Lord hath made all things for Himself." Get that. "He has made all things for Himself." Colossians 1:16 says of Christ, "All things were made by Him and for Him to bring Him glory." And, incidentally, whether we're good, whether we're righteous, or whether we're wicked, God'll get His glory, willingly or unwillingly. Remember that verse I gave you last week where God said to Pharaoh, "I will get Me honor from Pharaoh." He'll get it.
You know, all the creatures that God has made give Him glory. Creatures beneath us in terms of the level of Creation give God glory. For example, the stars. Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God." And even animals, yes, even beasts of the field give God glory. Isaiah 43:20, "The beasts of the field shall honor Me." God's creation does that. Creatures even below us in the creation. But then there are creatures above us in...in...certainly in celestial terms. The angels, and they give Him glory. Why, that's really the purpose of the angels. You hear them giving Him glory, for example, in Luke chapter 2 about verse 13 and 14, where they appear at the birth of Jesus Christ, and they cry out, "Glory to God in the highest." That's...that's what they're doing. They're giving Him glory.
You say, "The...the animals, the creation beneath us, gives Him glory. The creation above us gives Him glory." Lemme give you another thought. In regard to Creation, God made man, Hebrews 2:7, "A little lower than the angels." Right? But because of redemption, we have been exalted above the angels. Do you realize that someday when we enter into Heaven, we will occupy a place like no created being in history? We will not have angelic righteousness. We will have the righteousness of God Himself. If the creatures lower than us, the animals, the stars, and the angels give Him glory, how can man do less?
You see, we are to give Him glory because He made us and because He made us to give Him glory. Lemme give you a third reason. Because He judges those who don't. He judges those who don't give Him glory. That's a good reason to do it. Romans 1:18, "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." You say, "Why is God displaying wrath? Why is God bringing judgment?" Verse 21, "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not." See? And verse 23, "Changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man." So God judges those who refuse to give Him glory.
Now, how do we glorify God? And this is where we wanna spend our time. How do we glorify God? Now, these are very practical, simple things, and I hope and pray that the Spirit of God somehow will really penetrate your heart with these truths.
First of all, we glorify God, I told you last time, by aiming at His glory. Oh, what an important point that is. When you learn to live to aim at His glory, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whatever you do, even something as mundane as...what?...eating, drinking, do it all to glory of God." You aim your life at that end. We talked about that. What does that mean? Well, we gave you several suggestions. First of all, we said it meant that you have to eliminate self-worship. If you're gonna live for His glory, you gotta get rid of you, right? 'Cause if you're stealing any of the glory, then He's not getting it.
Second thing, you have to prefer Him above all things. Money, fame, honor, success, maybe friends, maybe family. If you're gonna give Him glory, you prefer Him above all things. Thirdly, we said that if you're gonna give Him glory, you have to be content to do His will, whatever the cost. Jesus, John 12:27 and 28, expressed that so simply and so clearly. Listen to what He said. "Now, is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? For this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name." See? Whatever the cost. Father, You get the glory.
Then we said another thing. Aiming at God's glory, and I love this point, means that you hurt when God's name suffers. Boy, that's a...that's a tremendous concept. You remember Psalm 69:9? "The zeal for Thine house has eaten me up. The reproaches that have come on Thee have fallen to me also." In other words, when God hurts, I hurt. And that's what Jesus...that was Messianic. He was David, but it was also Messianic. Yes, that's suffering when God suffers.
You know, I was sitting in my office just thinking over this point, and I just, in my own heart, I was asking myself if I really...if I really aim at God's glory to the point that when God's name is defamed I hurt inside. And a letter came to my attention, and I don't often do this, but I wanna read it to you. It was a little gal who came into my life and my sister's last summer through a terrible series of circumstances, living in a terribly immoral situation, just a little gal, 17 years old. And one day she had the opportunity to be exposed to the Gospel, and through some conversations with my sister and with myself, she gave her heart to Christ. But the problems in her background were just unbelievable. Just...you couldn't even begin to believe the things this girl had done and tried to do to herself and terrible things.
So you never know. Well, no sooner had she received Christ than she took off. All she had was a Bible and some people praying for her, and she headed back home. No church in this town. No nothing. No Christian friends. And a few months later, this is the letter that comes from her. She has had no instruction from anybody, but she's read her Bible. This is what she writes. "I hope everything is well with you. I have really begun to put things together in the Bible. By reading the Old Testament, I have been able to see how God deserves much more recognition than He's getting." That's good.
"I can see how He gave people so many chances and how they continued to break His heart by worshipping idols and sinning. God wanted the Israelites to sacrifice lambs, goats, oxen, and things like that as an atonement to Him for sin. He is God, after all, and He had to have some payment for the trouble and the sins of men. To think that God actually talked and was in the visible presence of these people, and yet they kept on complaining and sinning...Listen...I.I can almost feel the unbearable sadness that God feels when someone rejects and doesn't glorify Him. He's God!...exclamation point...He made us. He gave us everything. We continue to doubt and reject Him. It's awful. When I think of how I hurt Him, I hope I can someday make it up." Listen to the last part of the letter.
"I have a soft spot in my heart for God. I can feel His jealousy now when I see people worshipping idols and other gods. It's all so clear to me that God must be glorified and worshipped. He deserves it, and it's long overdue. I can't wait to just tell Jesus and, thus, God indirectly, that I love Him and just kiss the ground He walks on, because He should be worshipped. I want God to be God and take His rightful place. I'm tired of the way people put Him down."
All by herself with her Bible, she realized that life was all about the glory of God. I know some people who have been Christians for decades and don't know that. I hope you know it after we've studied it. We live for that end. That is the purpose of our existence, to give Him glory. And part of it is hurting when He hurts. Like Martinesaid, "I couldn't endure existence if Jesus was always dishonored."
Lemme give you another angle on this. Aiming at God's glory also involves, and think this one through, it means this: We aim at God's glory when we are content to be outdone by others in gifts and honors just so God gets the glory. Think that one through. We really aim at His glory when we're content to take a backseat and see somebody else lifted up, somebody else honored just so long as God gets the glory. That's a tough one, isn't it? Tough one.
Lemme illustrate that to ya from the life of Paul. Dear Paul, all his life, since the time of his conversion, was lost in the cause of Jesus Christ, wasn't he? Haven't we seen him through the Book of Acts in such pain and such agonizing and such weariness, and so spent? And yet he's...he's relentless. He's relentless, because he has as his goal the exaltation of God through Jesus Christ. And so he never stops. Well, you know, it came time for him in his life to find himself in prison, and he is shelled. Well, you can imagine the, you know, the normal human reaction of such a man as Paul to being shelled, but he took in stride, because he was a trusting man, and he knew God had a purpose in it. He turned it over to God, and God really used him in prison. People in Caesar's household kept getting saved, you know. God used him there. No question about it there.
But he has an interesting comment in Philippians 1, which I think gives us an insight into the heart of the man who is content with God getting the glory, even if He isn't in on it. In Philippians 1:15, he says, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife. Some have good will. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds." Here he is in prison, and some people are saying, "Hey, you know that Paul? We told you he was wrong. See where he wound up? God's punishing him." And they were trying to...they were...they were adding pain to already what was painful. And they were saying, "See, we're vindicated. We're free, and God has allowed us to preach, and look what He's done to Paul. He's shelledhim." And there's some new guys coming along the trail, and they're gaining the love of the people, and they're the ones that the people are...are learning from. And they're they ones that people are loving. They're the ones that are winning people to Jesus, and there are even some who are wailing away at Paul and adding hurt to already what hurts...
Well, lemme show you nature of the man in verse 18. "What then? How do I react? What's my response? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in that...what?...I do rejoice. Yea, and I will rejoice." Now, you see, that is aiming at God's glory to the extent that you don't care who the vehicle is. That's maturity.
You can look at your own life and tell whether you really aim at God's glory. What's your inner feeling when somebody who does just what you do does it to the place where it gains honor? How do you react to that? How do you react when somebody does what you do better than you? And God gains the glory. It's a good thermometer on whether you're concerned with His glory or your own.
Lemme give you the second thing. Still reviewing. This is why we always get in trouble, but we're throwing in new things, as you know. Second thing in glorifying God is receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, this is basic. I mean you can't begin to give God glory unless you come to Christ, right? But you haven't even acknowledged God. It is Jesus Christ who is full of grace and truth. It is He who is the One who carries within Him the glory of the Father. So to come to Christ is to give Him glory. And that's Philippians 2:9, as long you're there, look at it. "Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Then verse 11, "And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God." God is glorified when we bow the knee and confess Jesus as Lord. You really wanna give God glory, it all begins there. You'll never, in your life, give God glory apart from Jesus Christ. And if you never give Him glory, you'll never enjoy it...
Let's go to the third thing, and we'll start with where we're gonna start for today. We give God glory by the confession of sin. And, you know, confession is one area where we can give God glory. Maybe you never thought of that. But when you confess sin, you really glorify God. I think of the thief on the cross. He glorified God. You know why? All his life he lived a life that didn't glorify God, but in the last moment, according to Luke 23:41, he said this. "We indeed suffer justly." You know what he did? He confessed that he was getting what he deserved. He was guilty...Confession glorifies God.
Lemme give you an illustration of that in the Old Testament, and then we'll broaden the thing, 'cause I think it's so important. Joshua, you remember a man named Achan? If you were in Sunday School when you were a little kid, you heard about Achan, 'cause God told the children of Israel when they got into Jericho, "Don't take anything." He called it the cursed thing. And he didn't want 'em to touch anything. And what did Achan do? Oh, Achan gathered up a whole lotta goodies, and he went, and he thought, "I'll hide 'em, and nobody'll find 'em." And he buried 'em in a hole in his tent. "God'll never know. Can't see through dirt."
So what did he do? He buried it in there, and God wasn't happy. And you remember the terrible story that ultimately ended in his own death and the death of his family. And it ended in the defeat of Israel at Ai, didn't it? But listen to verse 19 of Joshua 7. Very interesting verse. "Joshua said to Achan, 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel." "What are you talking about, Joshua?" Says this. "Make confession unto Him." Now, just that verse, confession of sin glorifies God. You say, "John, why is that so?" Listen, and I'll tell ya. Whenever you excuse your sin...you are impugning God. You're saying, "I'm helpless." And, ultimately, you're saying, "You got me in this mess in the first place." Have you ever thought that? You've committed a sin, and you say, "Why did God ever let me get into that mess?" You know what you've done? You've impugned God.
Listen to this one. Want an illustration? Adam. You know, Eve had offered Adam the opportunity to take the apple, and he had taken it. And what happened? Genesis 3:12, listen to what Adam said, "The woman"...and we all stop there and say, 'Yeah, he blamed the woman.' No he didn't blame the woman. What the next word? "The woman Thou gavest me." See, "You did it, God. If you hadn't given me that woman, this never woulda happened." Men...thought that one through? "I wouldn't be in this mess if I...if You hadn't put me in it."
Listen, whenever you do that, you're assigning to God the possibility of unrighteousness. No. God was not at fault. God is never at fault. God does not ever, ever, in any way, act unrighteously. And whenever an individual tries to sneak out from under the absolute responsibility for his own sin, he impugns the character of God, you see. That does not glorify God.
In 1 Samuel 5, to give you another illustration, there is an incident there that is interesting from the standpoint of confession and the idea that it glorifies God. The Philistines stole the ark of God. It was really kind of a funny thing if it wasn't so sad. Some ofIsrael hadn't paid any attention to God for years, and they got into a big battle with the Philistines. Somebody said, "We're in trouble. We gotta get God up here." So they said, "Go down there and get that ark up here." The ark representing God. So they all ran down and the ark arrives. "Hurrah, hurrah, the ark is here, the day is won." Philistines stole the ark. See, God is not a utilitarian genii.
And so when the ark arrived on the scene, the Philistines hauled it off, and they stuck it in the temple of Dagaon, their god, their false god. God didn't like being in that place. And it was interesting what happened. In 1 Samuel 5, I think it's verse 4, it says, "They arose early in the morning. Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord." They came to that place in the morning, and Dagon was bowed down to the ark of the Lord. "And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump was left." Say, "Who did that?" God did it. It's a pretty graphic illustration. "Therefore neither did the priests or any that came into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day." Well, God wasn't through.
Verse 6, "The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. He destroyed them and smote them with tumors." You could translate that word "emmerods" tumors, hemorrhoids, all kinds of different ways. It says in the next verse that they "smote them again with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders." And if you notice down in verse 9, it's says those tumors were in the secret parts. What that means is the inside of the body. They were internal tumors. They all got these tumors inside. Say, "What was going on?" God was smiting them for the treatment that He was going through...
Now, there was a response that was most interesting. Verse 12 says, "The men that died not were smitten with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven." You know where they turned finally? To God. "And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months." Look down at verse 4. "Then they said, 'What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? How do we appease this God?' And they answered, 'Five golden emmerods...or tumors or whatever...and five golden mice.'" Apparently, along with it was a plague of mice that had overrun the place. "According to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all and on your lords. Wherefore you shall make images of your tumors."
Now, this was what was called a votive offering. And in many of the cases in pagan lands, it was a custom to offer to the deity offended the likeness of the diseased parts, and these were called votive offerings. And so they made these likenesses, and they were...they were offering these. But the key to the whole thing, verse 5, "Wherefore you shall make images of your tumors, images of your mice that mar your land. You shall give glory unto the God of Israel." You say, "Well, how in the world does this give God glory?" Because it is a confession of their sin, you see. It is the acknowledgement that this has come upon them because they have offended God. And once they came and made those offerings and made that confession, they exonerated God. They exalted His holy reaction against their evil, and that gave Him glory.
What they were saying was, "God, You had a right to react like You did for what we did." Got it? See, that gives God glory. When chastisement comes into your life and punishment comes into your life in the sense of discipline from God, and you react by saying, "God, I deserve every bit of it," you give Him glory, because you're saying, "God, I know that because You're holy, You had to do what You had to do." But whenever you question God's discipline, you are stealing from God His glory by impugning His right to punish sin. God is a righteous God, and God must react to sin.
Nehemiah 9:33, what did Nehemiah say? He said this. "Thou art just in all that is brought upon us."...I love this statement. It's in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. And you remember, he'd...he'd gone out and sown his wild oats, and wound up slopping hogs, which is a terrible thing. And for a person such as he was, with the privileges that were at his feet. But I love what it says in Luke 15:18. Listen. "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him." Now stop there. Imagine if he'd have gone back and said, "Dad...I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I left. But, Dad, I know it's partly my fault, but you really made it difficult, Dad. You put the pressure on me. You tried to cram religion down my throat. You blah-blah-blah-blah." On and on and on.
Didn't say that, did he? Listen to what he said. "Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee." And you know what his father did? Accepted him. That's the picture of God and the sinner. God accepts a sinner when a sinner exonerates God of any responsibility for what he does. God is not responsible for your sin, and He's not responsible for mine. We are. That gives Him glory.
The opposite is in Revelation 16, as we look to the future. And the Lord brings the plagues of the Tribulation. Listen to verse 8. "The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun; and the power was given unto him to scorch men with fire." And, again, here is God giving men what they deserve, right? They deserve it. His holiness is reacting to sin. And what did they do? "Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God." "Why are You doing this, God? You..." You know, and they blasphemed. And, look, verse 9, "God, who hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory." If they had acknowledged their sin and repented, that would've glorified God, for it would've exonerated Him. And it would've been saying, "You had to do what You did, God, our sin demanded it."
That gives Him glory. We glorify God when we confess our sin. Now, please remember that confession is homolegeo, say the same thing. It doesn't mean you beg for forgiveness. That's done, right? But to confess means to agree with God that it's all your fault and repent of it. To agree with God that it's all your fault and repent of it. That's confession, and, oh, that glorifies God...
Lemme give you a fourth way to glorify God. We glorify God by trusting Him...by trusting Him. Romans 4:20, it says this. "Abraham was strong...in...faith, giving glory to God." God is glorified when we trust Him. Fantastic and simple principle. You see, watch this now. Unbelief, unbelief questions God. Illustration. God says, through the Apostle Paul, "But my God shall supply...all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Okay?" You come to a point in your life where you don't have your needs...If you question God, if you say, "Oh, I'm...well, I don't...where it's gonna come from. Who, who." See? What you've done is impugned God, right? Because you were assuming that there's a credibility gap in God. "Yes, I know He said it, but, ohhhhh, will it come true?" See?
You see, what you've done is you've...you're not glorifying God. You know, we talk about glorifying God before the world. One...the biggest problem of getting God's glory to the world is that it has to go through us. We say, "God is so wonderful. God can supply all our needs, you know, and everything's going..." And some crisis comes into our life, and we wipe out. See? And everybody at the job knows it, or everybody in our life knows it. Say, "Boy, some kinda God you got. You don't even trust Him yourself."...You see, God is glorified when we believe in Him when He says, "I'll do it," and we rest in that assurance. That gives Him glory.
Listen to 1 John 5:10. Listen to it. "He that believeth not makes God a liar." You don't make Him a liar in His nature. You make Him appear to be a liar. If you really believe God, you're not gonna worry about things. Boy, you greatly dishonor God when you...you say, "Oh, I believe in Him, but I just can't cope with life. Ohhhhh, there's too many things. If you knew my problems. Ohhhhh." "There hath nooooo temptation taken even such as is common to man God is faithful will not subject to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape. But you may be able to bear it." You can bear it. But if you can't bear it, God's impugned by your life. God's nature is impugned. The basic way to glorify God - simple. Trust Him. God honors faith, because faith honors God.
I always take you to three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. Daniel 3:17? You know, they're getting ready to go in a fiery furnace. Now, that's a practical problem...See. Gonna say to yourself, "Now, let's see, fiery furnace. What verse applies here? Ummmmm." You know what they said? I love this. Daniel 3:17. They got al ready to go in there, and they made an announcement. "The God whom we serve is able to deliver us and will deliver us." I like that. If they'd a panicked, fallen on the ground and groveled in the dirt, God would not have been glorified, right? Because they would've had a problem really believing God. People, God is glorified when you trust Him. When I trust Him. And if I were to ask any of you and say, "Do you think God keeps His Word?" You'd all say, "Yes." And then if I asked you, "Do you live like God kept His Word?" You'd say, "Ummmmm." See? But that's just why the world isn't too sure what kind of a God we have.
Give you another one. We glorify God, fifthly, by fruitfulness. Fruitfulness. We glorify God by fruitfulness. Glorifying God isn't just standing around saying words to God. That's part of it, and we'll see in a minute. But glorifying God is fruitfulness. John 15:8. Remember that verse? "In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit." That's right. God is glorified when you bear fruit. Why? Because then the world can see the results of a God-filled life. And they can say, "Wow, what God this must be." Like the people of old who looked at Israel and said, "Who is a God like unto their God who does these wonders?" The reason people have trouble with defining our God is because they can't see anything in us.
Like, Hein, the German philosopher said, "You show me your redeemed life, and I might believe in your redeemer."...Yes, in Psalm 92:13 to 15 is an Old Testament passage that parallels John 15:8. It says essentially the same thing. God is honored when we bear fruit. Listen to Philippians 1:11. Well, verse 10, he says, "That ye may approve things excellent, that you may be sincere, without offense, till the Day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness...listen...which are through or by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." God is glorified when we bear fruit, Philippians 1:11.
I mean 1 Corinthians 9:7 says, "Who plants a vineyard and eats not the fruit of it?" I mean it's just a...God should expect that. He planted us, and His character in the eyes of men is at stake...is at stake by the fruitfulness of the life of the Christian. That's true.
In 2 Peter 2:9, "You're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own...listen...in order that you should show forth the praises of Him who called you." That's what we're for, to put Him on display to the world. Sad note in contrast is Romans 2:24, "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you." Can you imagine that? Paul says to those Jewish people, "Instead of you living to give glory to God, God's name is getting blasphemed because of the way you're living." That's tragic.
Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15, familiar passage. "And He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him." That's the purpose of our life, to live for His glory and to bear fruit.
Well, Colossians 1:10 takes it a step further even. "That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing...watch... being fruitful in...and here comes the definition...every good work." Yes, being fruitful in every good work. That tells us what that fruitfulness means. Fruit is good works. Ephesians 5:9, "The fruit of light is goodness, righteousness, truth, good deeds, righteous life, holy habits." But it's more than just works. It's also attitudes, right? Galatians 5, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." So it's attitudes and it's deeds. But, you see, when we live a life of good works, the world will see our good works and do what? Glorify our Father in Heaven.
Lemme give you a sixth one. We glorify God by praising Him. We glorify God by praising Him. And here I interpret the term "praising" in the sense of...of the recitation of the verbalizing of God's wonderful works. Psalm 50 verse 23 says, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me." Psalm 50 verse 23, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me." Now this is simply exalting God, the praise of our lips. The Hebrew word boraa, to create. The Hebrew word barak, to praise. Interesting how similar they are. Praise is all about exalting God for what He's done. For what He's made, for what He's accomplished.
If you want a great illustration of praise, read Habakkuk chapter 3. And, you know, Habakkuk, he's got problems. I mean he doesn't understand anything that's going on. He can't figure out why God doesn't bring a revival to Israel. Then when God tells him He's gonna bring the Chaldeans over to wipe out Israel, he doesn't understand that, either. And he's got the pro...a real problem. But, you know, in the midst of his problem, he just stops in Habakkuk 3 verses 3 through about 16, and he just praises God. He says, "God, You did this, and You did that, and You did this, and You did that, and You did this, and You did that, and I'm so glad, and I'm so thankful. Thank You God for doing this and doing all these things." You say, "What's he saying all that for?" Because he's building up confidence. You know how to trust God in the present? Watch Him in the past. God has already established the pattern of His faithfulness, right?
You know why God wants us to recite His wondrous works? Because it's a continual reminder that He's never proven unfaithful in history. You know one good reason to study the Old Testament? To find out that God is a faithful God. And if you can...if you can see Him vindicated all through the past history of man's age, you can certainly trust Him in the moment.
What happened on the day of Pentecost when they spoke in languages? What happened when that great miracle occurred? It says, "They all spoke," and what did they speak? They spoke the wonderful works of God. That was the tradition among the Jews, to exalt God for His wonderful works. And implied in that kind of praise...listen...is thanks. Right. Implied there is thanks. "God, You did it, and thank You for doing it."
You know, if you just spend the time to recite over in your own mind the accomplishments that God has done and include in there thanks, this builds up in your mind a confidence in God that's good for the moment. What did the hymn say this morning? "Oh, God, our help in ages past." And on the basis of that, our hope...what?...for years to come. You see, God is...God is worth my confidence because He has proven Himself. And I wanna go over the recitation of the lists of all of His accomplishments and thank Him for them.
What did Paul say, and it was said, "In everything...1 Thessalonians 5:18...give thanks, for this is the will of God for you." Why? Because you learned to trust God in the present when you thanked Him for the victories of the past. That gives Him glory. I can illustrate that to you with a...a beautiful story, and yet a sad one from Luke 17 verse 11. It says this. "It came to pass as He went to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee...This is Jesus, of course...And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off." Lepers, of course, had to separate themselves because of their disease, which was so contagious. "And they lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' And when He saw them, He said unto them, 'Go, show yourselves unto the priests.' And it came to pass as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them...that's one out of ten...when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God." Say, "How'd he glorify God?"
"He fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks...that glorifies God...and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, except this stranger.'" Glory and thanks, it's anonymous. You recite His wondrous works, and you thank Him for them.
You know, people, we oughta be involved in reading the precious truths of the Old Testament just so we can learn to praise God for what He's done. And reading the New Testament the same way. People, when we go through the New Testament and see the wondrous things that Christ has done, that He's accomplished, what God has done, and even through the history of the church. When we know these things, how it gives confidence for the future, for the moment.
Well, seventh. This is the last one we'll give you this morning. We glorify God when we love Him enough to suffer for Him. We glorify God when we love Him enough to suffer for Him. John 21. And you know the beautiful story of Peter here. Kinda the reconfirmation of Peter which was done biweekly, at least. Peter was forever and ever falling on his face. But here was kind of the final, really, the grip on Peter that made him what he was in terms of commitment. And Jesus wanted Peter to know something very important. Peter wanted...Jesus wanted Peter to know he was gonna die. But before He ever talked about Peter's death, He had to establish something. And three times He asked Peter if he what? If he loved Him. Because, you see, it's basic to that kind of suffering that you would love the Lord. In other words, the Lord knew that...that love was the predicate to being willing to suffer. We glorify God when we love Him enough to suffer.
So Jesus says, "Do you love Me, Peter? Do you love Me, Peter? Do you love Me, Peter?" And, in essence, He's establishing the love of Peter, ever though He...He rebukes Peter in the...in the way he uses words and the choice of the Greek, and even though He...He implies Peter's disobedience is not a good testimony to the love he claims, still, He establishes in Peter's mind the fact of love. And having established that, He then says, in verse 18, "Verily, verily I say unto you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wouldest." In other words, you did what you wanted. "But when you shall be old, you'll stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee where thou wouldest not." The term "stretch forth your hands" is one that is used also to refer to crucifixion. So He's telling him he's gonna get crucified, perhaps.
Then in verse 19, "This spoke He, signifying by what death he should...what?...g.glorify God." Glorify God. You see, Jesus was intimating that to die for Him was to bring Him glory. Not that you have to die to bring Him glory, but that you need to be willing to. You say, "What was Peter's reaction?" Well, I think he was happy. I think he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Say, "What makes you think that?" Well, he was so sick of blowing it, that when he finally heard that the next time he hit a crisis he'd die for Jesus, he probably got excited. Thought, "At last, I'm gonna be faithful. Hallelujah." And, you know, when he wrote his letter, he...he says, "Now...he says...I have to put you in remembrance of these things, 'cause I'm gonna die pretty soon. I'm gonna put off this tabernacle." I think he was looking forward to being faithful in the end.
Listen, beloved, we glorify God when we live so in love with Him that we'll suffer if He asks us. Isaiah 24:15, Isaiah said to the remnant in persecution, he said these words: "Glorify God in the fire." See, it may be that. May not be. Micaiah was in prison. Isaiah was sawn asunder. Paul was beheaded. Tradition says Luke was hanged on an olive tree. Peter was crucified upside down. Thus, did they honor God. Remember what it said of the people who are mentioned in Revelation 12, I think it's verse 11? "They loved not their own lives unto death."
Glorifying God is being willing to suffer for Him. Listen to the words of Peter as he anticipated that. "If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. For the Spirit of glory and God rests on you. On their part is evil spoken of. On your part, He's glorified." When you suffer for Christ's sake, when you stand in front of this world and speak the truth and take the flack, when you confront the system with the claims of Jesus Christ in boldness and courage, God is glorified. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God for this reason. What a tremendous thing to be called to suffer for His sake.
Well, so it is that we are to glorify God. We come back full circle to the very second thing we said in our list of how to glorify God, which keys it all, and that is that you begin by coming to Jesus Christ. There it all starts.
Let's have prayer. Thank You, Father, for, again, the privilege of opening the Word and having our hearts saturated for at least a brief time this morning with Your truth. Help us, Father, to retain, to absorb what the Spirit would teach us through the pages of the Word of God. Lord, God, we do wanna give You glory more than anything else. We pray that we might always aim at Your glory. And if there are some here this morning who've never given their life to Jesus Christ, who've never bowed before Him and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God, that they may begin today by coming to Christ and establishing that relationship in which they can give You glory. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.


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Linda Sue Hollingsworth Littlejohn Robbins, Murriel's oldest child
Those who knew her, loved her.
Those who knew her, loved her.
Opal Murriel Hollingsworth was a beautiful and loving wife with her husband and a caring mother with her children. It is the case in most families that there are trials and tribulations and problems to solve throughout the years of growing a family. Our family was no different, but in using hindsight, I know that my mom performed a more than admirable job of raising her four children.
Murriel (pronounced Mer-re'ul), as Mom was called the first 70 years of her life, gave up material things for herself, so that we could have what we needed and enjoy more of what the world had to offer. It must have been difficult and challenging, just as it is today, to live within ones' means and also be able to give of one's self to the family and community, but she did it.
Mom was born in November 20, 1916 and lived in east Texas in the Antrim community in Anderson County for her first three years. Mom's parents were very humble, but proud, country folks who mostly were farmers. During their first 26 years of marriage, they rented homes, and at age 46, they bought a home in Liberty County's Cleveland, Texas with the financial assistance of their oldest daughter. It was this home where their four remaining adult children, their spouses, and 14 grandchildren visited from 1939-1978 and 1980 when Mom's parents passed away, first her dad and then her mom.
Murriel's family moved east of Elkhart, Texas on Grapeland Road, also in Anderson County with her family by 1920. Her father was a farmer. She, her older sister, and younger brother went to country schools and helped their mom and dad in the fields and in the home. In 1925, her youngest sister was born. By the third grade, Mom and her family had moved to Montgomery County, west of Conroe, Texas. Next the family moved to Cold Springs, Texas in San Jacinto County where they were active in the Cold Springs Methodist Church. Mom and her older sister graduated from Cold Springs High School age 17. All schools at that time went through the 11th grade. In the 1930s Cold Springs community had a church and the High School was a four-teacher school. Mom's older sister was the valedictorian of her class.
In 1935, at the age of 18, Mom attended the Houston, Texas Beauty College and graduated with a beautician's license. She moved to Conroe and Anahuac, Texas to become a beautician and at one time owned her own shop. In 1940, Mom, age 23, was a beautician in Cleveland, Texas according to the Liberty County Poll Tax (Voting) receipt and lived at her parents' home.
Murriel met my dad, a young 30 year-old Methodist preacher when he was assigned to a five-point circuit at Lovelady, east Texas after 1939. They married June 23, 1941 when Mom was 24. They married at Cleveland, Texas where her parents had moved. She and Dad spent their honeymoon at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas. This began a lifetime of service in the Methodist Church for both of them and also a lifetime of moving. Mom and Dad moved more than 20 times to live in church parsonages in 15 towns, six in Texas and nine in Oklahoma as they served 14 churches and one administrative position during the next 40 years.
Mom and Dad moved to Tomball, Texas where his next pastorate was located. Serving a single church was called a station. Their home was behind the church and directly connected to it with a hallway. The women of the church used the parsonage kitchen to prepare food for the church.
In March, 1942, Dad was assigned to the Linden Methodist Church, Linden, Texas, in Cass County, which is in northeast Texas near Texarkana. Murriel and he had their first child when Mom was 25, a daughter, who was born in the home and was delivered by a local doctor. Both of the baby's grandmothers came to assist for several weeks. The family shared a milk cow with the Baptist preacher's family who lived behind them. In April, 1943, at Linden, their second child, a daughter, was born at home who was delivered by the same doctor. Again, both grandmothers came to assist Mom and the new baby for several weeks. A lady who now lived in Tyler, Texas visited with me earlier this year by phone and explained that as a teenager, she babysat me and my next sister when we were one and two year olds. She believed that it was her mom who assisted the doctor in our deliveries as she knew her mom was called on often to assist the doctor.
Dad was assigned to First Methodist Church in Athens, Texas, in Henderson County from 1945-1948 where their third child, a son, was born in 1947 at the hospital. Our mom often dressed her two daughters in the same outfits or similarly, even though we were one year apart and one had brown hair and one had blond hair.
Methodist preachers and their families were assigned churches and locations within a geographical area called a Conference. Dad's first 20 years as a minister were in the Texas Conference, one of five in Texas, located in east Texas, now approximately east of I-45 and not including Dallas, Texas. His last twenty years of ministry were located in the Oklahoma Conference which coincided with the geography of the state of Oklahoma.
Murriel knew that she would need to follow her husband to each new pastorate with her family. By now, at age 30, she was living in her fourth town after marrying my dad. This would continue with 12 more moves to different towns and churches for almost another 30 years until she was 60.
From 1948-1950, Mom, age 32, and family of five lived in two parsonages, plus a rental duplex in between, in Palestine, Texas. The first home was Victorian style and next door to First Methodist Church on Magnolia Street. The second home was built south of town on Highland Drive. Her family lived in a rented home while the second parsonage was built. Her oldest daughter attended first and second grades at Lamar Elementary School and her second daughter attended first grade there.
The next move occurred in June, 1950 to Galveston, Texas where Murriel, age 34, and her family grew to four children with the addition of a third daughter in 1952. Her husband was transferred to Galveston's First Methodist Church where they lived for five years. It was an exciting time for Mom and the family with the beach so handy. My mom loved to go crabbing, and we would go to the east jetty and carefully walk out on the slippery rock rubble jetty and try not to fall between the cracks between the huge boulders. We took leftover beef meat and bones to tie a string around and lowered it into the water. Crabs would cling to the bait and we would bring them up.
Mom and Dad loved seafood of all kinds. In those days, a favorite way to prepare fish fillets was to deep fat fry them in deep electric fryers that had recently come on the market. Mom and Dad also took us to Gaido's on Sundays after church where our favorite fish was fried shrimp. In contrast with today, we eat mostly grilled or broiled fish. Other Sunday outings included riding the Port Bolivar free ferry operated by the Department of Transportation, Dad driving the car up on the upper seawall at the east end of Seawall Boulevard, going to Carnation's for ice cream, driving to the airport at the west end of the island to watch the airplanes come and go, and driving on the hard sand beach at the west end of the island.
During our time in Galveston, Murriel saw that the older daughters took piano, art, gymnastics, dance, and voice lessons from members of the church or in the community. It was the fashion of the time for women and girls to wear hats and gloves when we were dressed up, and our Mom and we followed that custom. Mom also saw that we ate meals on a regular schedule, with breakfast, dinner, and supper the names of the three meals as was common in those days in the South. She also taught the children to say, "Yes, m'am, no, m'am, yes, sir, and no, sir." as did her mom. Cursing was not allowed in our home, and we could not play cards or go to a movie on Sunday.
The oldest daughter went to three schools in Galveston. The first was San Jacinto Elementary in the third and fourth grades in 1950-1952 when our family lived in a two-story Victorian home next to First Methodist Church at 1920 Sealy that was built before the 1900 storm and survived. The second school was Alamo Elementary near the home we lived in at 4420 N ½ Street in the fifth and sixth grades. The third school was Lovenburg Junior High in the seventh grade. My mom enrolled the three oldest children in swimming lessons at the then new Ball High School Swimming Pool and the oldest daughter began band in the seventh grade. The youngest sister was born in 1952 during one of the fierce storms that frequent Galveston.
1955-1957 saw the another transfer for Murriel, age 39, and her family to Grace Methodist Church in Houston, Texas in the now historic Heights area. The first parsonage was a frame home on Yale Avenue south of the church with an extra bedroom addition. The second home was a newly built parsonage one block east on Heights Boulevard south of the Heights Public Library. The oldest daughter and her next sister walked to Hamilton Junior High School at the north end of Heights Boulevard. The oldest daughter took Driver's Ed in the ninth grade to receive a Texas Learner's Permit. The two daughters would walk home and sometimes stop at a hamburger stand that might have been an early Whataburger because the hamburgers tasted the same. The sisters participated in the church choir and the oldest sister was in the school choir and was a member of Rainbow Girls. Mom had distinctive opinions about Elvis Presley and her oldest daughter was not allowed to see him when he came to Houston.
1957 was a historic year for Mom's family. Bishop Angie Smith of the Methodist Church (an elected position) asked my dad to transfer from the Texas Conference to the Oklahoma Conference where the bishop's brother A. Frank Smith was also a bishop. My dad agreed to the transfer, so all of our family's roots from the eastern half of Texas were uprooted to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to the Crown Heights Methodist Church. Mom was 41. In those days people, particularly men, did not give up the opportunity to move within an occupation, profession, or company for possible fear of not advancing, so our family made the change.
Oldest daughter and next sister attended Harding High School in the 10th and 9th grades where both sisters were in Pep Club and the oldest daughter took Driver's Ed. Some students who took Driver's Ed the same semester already were driving their cars to school that they parked in the parking lot. Her younger brother and youngest sister attended Emerson Elementary School. Mom was the dutiful pastor's wife and led women's functions in the church and entertained church members in the home. The children were active in the youth groups and choirs in the church. It was nice to visit often with Dad's oldest brother and his wife because they had moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma early in their lives in the 1930s.
Murriel's eighth location at age 42 was 1958-1960 when her family moved to Duncan, Oklahoma's First Methodist Church. The family lived in two locations: one a smaller frame home with a detached garage and the second, a two-story home with a non-livable basement. At the first home, Mom and the children helped to hang out the clothes after they were washed. On one occasion, they had to quickly gather the clothes in because the sky had turned a weird, sickly shade of green with increasing winds that signaled the approach of a strong storm and possible tornado. That was in the days before one could see the weather forecast on the computer or warnings on the radio or TV. At the second home, Mom presided again over entertaining functions in the home for church members. She also gave a formal tea for her oldest daughter's high school graduation. It was in Duncan that the two older daughters were active at school and in church. The oldest daughter performed in school choir and the second daughter was editor of the school yearbook. Both daughters were in the active youth group at church, sang in the youth choir, and had fun at the after Sunday evening church service youth group dances in member's homes. Also at this time, the two older daughters began dating.
From 1960-1966, at their ninth location, Mom, age 44, Dad, age 49, and the three younger children moved to Woodward, Oklahoma for Dad to become the Woodward District Superintendent of the Methodist Church, an administrative and guidance position. From their home, he and mom traveled to 35 churches that stretched from the western edge of Oklahoma's Panhandle to east of the Panhandle in the Woodward area. It was during these years that the second daughter and son graduated from Woodward High School in 1961 and 1965 and the oldest daughter and second daughter attended and graduated from Oklahoma City University, a Methodist university, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Their oldest daughter married in 1965 in Dallas, Texas when Dad married his daughter and her fiancé at University Park Methodist Church. The family participated as members of the wedding party.
In June, 1966, Murriel, age 52, and Dad, age 57, moved to their Lawton's Centenary Methodist Church, 704 S.W. D. Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma for one year with their youngest child, Deborah as their tenth assignment. I recall visiting there with my first husband, and the garage doors would go up and down unannounced as their automatic signals would be set off as nearby Fort Sill was performing maneuvers with the same frequencies as armaments were shot.
From 1967-1970, El Reno, Oklahoma was my dad's next pastorate and eleventh location at Wesley Methodist Church at 101 S. Barker Avenue where the parsonage was next door. The home was a one-story with a livable basement. I recall that my brother came home from the Vietnam War and stared often out the front door when we visited there. My dad also would barbeque on the grill outside in his suit and hat. As usual, Mom, age 51, belonged to the Women's Christian Service group, lead in it. and Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, and entertained women's groups at the parsonage. Their youngest daughter graduated from El Reno High School in 1970. A significant change came about in the Methodist Church in 1968 when it became the United Methodist Church.
In June, 1970, when Murriel was 54, she and Dad moved to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, their twelvth assignment, where he was the pastor of First United Methodist Church at 302 S. Seminole, Okmulgee, Oklahoma for two years. Okmulgee is in eastern Oklahoma where my children's great aunt and uncle lived most of their adult lives, taught in the schools there, and were members of the First United Methodist Church. It is also the town where Mom and Dad's youngest daughter settled with her husband in later years and raised their two children. The Okmulgee Cemetery has several family members located there: the oldest daughter's children's paternal great-grandparents where the husband was a Methodist minister for 30 years, the oldest daughter's children's great aunt and uncle, and the youngest daughter's husband, and his parents.
1972-1975 saw Mom's thirteenth move to Claremore, Oklahoma with Dad to the First United Methodist Church at Claremore and Foyil. It was a significant move in that Mom and Dad chose Claremore, Oklahoma as a place to retire to later in life. It was a momentous decision because Dad did not get to make the move five years later due to his death. Mom really enjoyed the church at Claremore, making many friends who would remain her friends when she retired in Claremore later. After her children grew up and left home, she had begun to work outside the home, especially in elderly care in private homes or small nursing homes where she could sit or work with patients during the night.
In 1975, Murriel, age 59, and Dad, age 65, moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma's Sheridan Avenue United Methodist Church where the parsonage was next door. This was their fourteenth assignment. Christmas that year was a joyous occasion because their son and his wife from California came to visit, as well as Dad's oldest brother and youngest sister, along with of their other children, including the oldest daughter and her husband's children, the second daughter from Washington state, and the youngest daughter's boyfriend who would later become her husband. There was a beautiful snow on Christmas morning which was very unusual to occur that early in the season.
1976 was the last and final move for Mom, age 60, and Dad, age 65, to Perry, Oklahoma First United Methodist Church, as a Methodist minister and his wife. They had completed fifteen moves to different towns in two states. Dad was in good health until March, 1977 when he had a heart attack while he and Mom were visiting their oldest daughter's family in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Dad was able to go home to Perry for a short while, but had another heart attack two months later at their home in Perry. He was transferred to St. Mary's Hospital, Enid, Oklahoma where he lived for a few weeks until his death on his 66th birthday, June 11, 1977. Mom, her oldest daughter, and family got to be with him in the hospital before he passed away. During the two months when he was gravely ill, Mom took care of the business of having him officially retired as a United Methodist Minister in the Oklahoma Conference at the Annual Conference in June, 1977. His funeral was held at the Perry First United Methodist Church where his oldest and youngest daughters sang several of his favorite hymns as duets during the service. His body was transferred to the Claremore, Oklahoma Woodlawn Cemetery where he is interred with Mom who passed away in 2005.
In 1977, Mom, age 60, as a widow, moved to her home at 300 N. Wortman Place in Claremore, Oklahoma that she and dad had planned to move to together for their retirement. Instead she moved by herself. Her second oldest daughter came from Washington state to help her move in and get organized. For several years, Mom was active at First United Methodist Church, Claremore, Oklahoma, and worked at Picketts' Plant Nursery and at Aunt Carrie's Home for the elderly. In her spare time, she walked every day for exercise and had an extensive garden in her backyard. When her oldest daughter divorced in 1978, Mom took her oldest daughter and three children in to her home until they were able to purchace their own home in the same town.
Before the age of 72 in 1988, Mom had a major stroke, but was able to continue living in her home after rehabilitation.
By 1995, at age 78, Mom had developed the beginning stages of dementia with mini strokes, she became lost in her neighborhood, and it was determined that she needed to move into residential care. She moved to the Baptist Retirement Center, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where she had a two-room apartment and was under the care of her youngest daughter, her husband, and two young children. It was at this time that Mom's middle name Murriel was changed to use her legal first given name, Opal. I have often wondered how strange it must seem to a person with dementia to be called by a new name that was never used before in one's life. I wonder at what point in dementia does one lose the ability to recognize one's own name.
Later in 1995 or 1996 Opal Murriel was moved to the Baptist Retirement Center in Owasso at Mimosa Manor where she had a smaller apartment. At the end of her living in Owasso her older daughter assumed the responsibilities of her financial and medical care.
In 1997 Opal Murriel moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma to be near her oldest granddaughter and her family where she was cared for by them for nine years until her death June 2, 2005 at age 88. She resided at Sterling House Assisted Living facility, Westhaven Nursing Home, and Grace Living Center. It was during those nine years that my oldest daughter, her husband, and their two young sons went to visit their grandmother daily and saw to her needs at that critical time in her life.
Opal Murriel Gray Hollingsworth was laid to rest next to Dad at the Claremore, Oklahoma Woodlawn Cemetery on June 10, 2005. Strode Funeral Home, Stillwater, Oklahoma was in charge of the graveside services. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and her husband. She was survived by one son, three daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She was also survived by two sisters.
With this narrative, I honor Opal Murriel Gray Hollingsworth's memory for her family and friends who loved her for 88 years. Throughout her life, she showed strength, humor, compassion, and love for those around her.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This one is from the Free Software Magazine. Xavier Calbet wrote:
Whether you are a professional or amateur scientist, engineer or mathematician, if you need to make numerical calculations and plots quickly and easily, then PDL (Perl Data Language) is certainly one of the best free software tools to use. PDL has everything that similar high-level, proprietary, numerical calculation languages (like IDL or MATLAB) have. And it certainly comes with all the features you would expect to have in a numerical calculation package.
The full article is available at: Generating cool fractals.


text:
At the WTC conference in Berlin this week I held the "Top 10 tuning recommendations for WebSphere Application Server". One of the questions that asked w.r.t. updating the JDBC driver was if it was okay to just update the jar file or did they need to delete and recreate the JDBC provider?
It is fine to just update the jar file and restart the JVM.


text:
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Riot (GTA SA)/Script
The following is a script of the Riot mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Carl Johnson: Hey, be quiet, be quiet.
Maccer: C'mon you bunch of wankers, this is unbearable!
Reporter: Officers Eddie Pulaski and Frank Tenpenny, both hard working members of a community policing unit, have been charged with racketeering, corruption, narcotics, and sexual assault.
Kendl Johnson: They brought it upon themselves.
The Truth: That bastard cost me my farm. And he hogged the bong.
Reporter: ...conspired to kill fellow officer Ralph Pendelbury who had threatened to turn state's evidence and who was then found shot dead in a supposedly unrelated gang incident...
Sweet: I'd say 20 years.
Cesar Vialpando: Try 5 years. Cops always get off easy.
Kendl Johnson: Yeah, I heard that.
Reporter: ...retracted witness statements and now the disappearance of fellow officers Jimmy Hernandez, and Officer Pulaski himself, believed to be on the run.
(Time passed by as the witnesses exit the courtroom.)
Reporter: Oh, wait, they're exiting the courtroom now!
Kendl Johnson: That bastard Pulaski will probably turn up dead, just like the rest of them.
Attorney: Of the lack of evidence against my client, the district attorney's office has seen fit to drop all charges...
Sweet: What?!
Kendl Johnson: That's bullshit.
The Truth: You see? You can't trust the system, man!
Reporter: ...surprise decision is wholly unprecedented...
Sweet: Oh man, there just ain't no JUSTICE!
Maccer: I know, I've been arrested numerous times for totally naturally behavior!
Reporter: ...Los Santos will burn tonight!
Sweet: Ain't nobody gonna be rioting in my hood!
Cesar Vialpando: I don't know about that holmes. Look. The whole city is going up. People are fucking pissed off about this.
Carl Johnson: People don't know what they want. We're all being used.
The Truth: You see, man? It's always the same, friend. Power systems corrupt everyone.
Sweet: Look, I say we go secure the hood, we ain't getting shit together so some idiot can burn it down.
(Outside the mansion, Carl and Sweet are heading towards Sweet's Greenwood.)
Carl Johnson: Shit's real fucked up, man.
Sweet: Yeah, but we gonna handle this ourselves.
(On the way people are rioting.)
Sweet: There ain't no justice, man. How does scum like Tenpenny stay on the streets?
Carl Johnson: Man, I dunno, just the way shit stacked I guess.
Sweet: Man, this is fucked up. We should take that bastard down ourselves.
Carl Johnson: We will Sweet.
Sweet: So who's the weird Brit?
Carl Johnson: What? Oh, Maccer! He got a little problem he can't control.
Sweet: What kind of problem?
Carl Johnson: He can't stop, you know, giving himself a little bit.
Sweet: What, you mean he likes to consult Professor Hans Jerkov?
Carl Johnson: Yeah, regularly.
Sweet: Spank the monkey.
Carl Johnson: Yeah!
Sweet: Take Palm-ela out?
Carl Johnson: Quit it!
Sweet: Burp the worm?
Carl Johnson: Enough, man! Shit, look at this place, even old ladies robbing shit!
Sweet: I guess it's better than staying home and watching the shopping channel.
Carl Johnson: Yeah, go out there and get yourself a bargain! Shit, man, people real mad! Tenpenny responsible for ALL of this! As if the ghetto ain't wrecked enough! Come tomorrow, most of Centrals gonna have new TVs.
Sweet: Look at them, like angry kids or some shit! They just tearing up their own neighborhoods! Nothing good is gonna come of this. (pause) Everything's burning! Put your foot down! Man the ghetto's tearing itself apart.
(Carl and Sweet arrives at Sweet's house.)
Sweet: I'm gonna gather up some homies, and get the hood locked down.
Carl Johnson: You need anything, you give me a call. I'm gonna check out the city and see what I can see.
Sweet: You be careful out there, CJ.


text:
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European Commission
Strasbourg, 12 June 2013
A Common European Asylum System
1. Asylum and the EU
A duty to protect
Asylum is granted to people fleeing persecution or serious harm. Asylum is a fundamental right; granting it is an international obligation under the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees.
In an area of open borders and freedom of movement, we have to have a joint approach to asylum across the EU.
Asylum flows are not constant, nor are they evenly distributed across the EU. They have, for example, varied from a peak of 425 000 applications for EU-27 States in 2001 down to under 200 000 in 2006. In 2012, there were over 330 000.
Asylum must not be a lottery. EU Member States have a shared responsibility to welcome asylum seekers in a dignified manner, ensuring they are treated fairly and that their case is examined to uniform standards so that, no matter where an applicant applies, the outcome will be similar.
The EU as an area of protection
Since 1999, the EU has been working to create a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and improve the current legislative framework.
New EU rules have now been agreed, setting out common high standards and stronger co-operation to ensure that asylum seekers are treated equally in an open and fair system – wherever they apply.
In short:
2. Asylum Procedures Directive
What is the asylum procedures directive?
The Asylum Procedures Directive sets out rules on the whole process of claiming asylum, including on: how to apply, how the application will be examined, what help the asylum seeker will be given, how to appeal and whether the appeal will allow the person to stay on the territory, what can be done if the applicant absconds, or how to deal with repeated applications. The previous Directive was the lowest common denominator between Member States at the time. The rules were often too vague and derogations allowed Member States to keep their own rules, even if these went below basic agreed standards.
Key achievements
The new Asylum Procedures Directive is much more precise. It creates a coherent system, which ensures that asylum decisions are made more efficiently and more fairly and that all Member States examine applications with a common high quality standard.
It sets clearer rules on how to apply for asylum: there have to be specific arrangements, for example at borders, to make sure that everyone who wishes to request asylum can do so quickly and effectively. Procedures will be both faster and more efficient. Normally, an asylum procedure will not be longer than six months. There will be better training for decision-makers and more early help for the applicant, so that the claim can be fully examined quickly. These investments will save money overall, because asylum seekers will spend less time in state-sponsored reception systems and there will be fewer wrong decisions, so fewer costly appeals.
Anyone in need of special help - for example because of their age, disability, illness, sexual orientation, or traumatic experiences will receive adequate support, including sufficient time, to explain their claim. Unaccompanied children will be appointed a qualified representative by the national authorities.
Cases that are unlikely to be well-founded can be dealt with in special procedures ('accelerated' and 'border' procedures). There are clear rules on when these procedures can be applied, to avoid well-founded cases being covered. Unaccompanied children seeking asylum and victims of torture benefit from special treatment in this respect.
Rules on appeals in front of courts are much clearer than previously. Currently, EU law is vague and national systems do not always guarantee enough access to courts. As a result, many cases end up in with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which is costly and creates legal uncertainty. The new rules fully comply with fundamental rights and should reduce pressure on the Strasbourg court.
Member States will also become better equipped to deal with abusive claims, in particular with repetitive applications by the same person. Someone who does not need protection will no longer be able to prevent removal indefinitely by continuously making new asylum applications.
3. Reception conditions directive
What is the reception conditions directive?
The Reception Conditions Directive deals with access to reception conditions for asylum seekers while they wait for the examination of their claim. It ensures that applicants have access to housing, food, health care and employment, as well as medical and psychological care. In the past, diverging practices among Member States could however lead to an inadequate level of material reception conditions for asylum seekers.
Key achievements
The new Reception Conditions Directive aims to ensure better as well as more harmonised standards of reception conditions throughout the Union.
For the first time, detailed common rules have been adopted on the issue of detention of asylum seekers, ensuring that their fundamental rights are fully respected. In particular, it:
The new Directive also clarifies the obligation to conduct an individual assessment in order to identify the special reception needs of vulnerable persons. It provides particular attention to unaccompanied minors and victims of torture and ensures that vulnerable asylum seekers can also access psychological support. Finally, it includes rules on the qualifications of the representatives for unaccompanied minors.
Access to employment for an asylum seeker must now be granted within a maximum period of 9 months.
4. Qualification Directive
What is the qualification directive?
The Qualification Directive specifies the grounds for granting international protection. Its provisions also foresee a series of rights on protection from refoulement, residence permits, travel documents, access to employment, access to education, social welfare, healthcare, access to accommodation, access to integration facilities, as well as specific provisions for children and vulnerable persons. The minimum standards in the previous Directive were to a certain extent vague, which maintained divergences in national asylum legislation and practices. The chances of a person to be granted international protection could vary tremendously depending on the Member State processing the asylum application.
Key achievements
5. Dublin Regulation
What is the Dublin Regulation?
The core principle of the Dublin Regulation is that the responsibility for examining claim lies primarily with the Member State which played the greatest part in the applicant's entry or residence in the EU. The criteria for establishing responsibility run, in hierarchical order, from family considerations, to recent possession of visa or residence permit in a Member State, to whether the applicant has entered EU irregularly, or regularly. Experience of the previous system has however shown the need to better address situations of particular pressure on Member States' reception capacities and asylum systems.
Key achievements
The new Dublin contains sound procedures for the protection of asylum applicants and improves the system's efficiency through:
What is EURODAC?
The EURODAC Regulation establishes an EU asylum fingerprint database. When someone applies for asylum, no matter where they are in the EU, their fingerprints are transmitted to the EURODAC central system. EURODAC has been operating since 2003 and has proved a very successful IT tool. Some updates were however required, in particular to reduce the delay of transmission by some Member States, to address data protection concerns and to help combat terrorism and serious crime.
Key achievements
The new Regulation improves the regular functioning of EURODAC.
Useful Links
Statement by Commissioner Malmström
CEAS infographics
Cecilia Malmström's website
Follow Commissioner Malmström on Twitter
DG Home Affairs website
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