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APRIL 2015 VOL.9 No. 5

Tid Bits of WisdomFrom the Wonderful Word Publishers

I AM THE RESURRECTION AND

THE LIFE!

John 11:25-26

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?KJV

What if Jesus had lived His perfect life, but refused to go to the cross? In the garden He prayed about the cup, which carried the agony of our sin. Jesus did not look forward to having sin laid upon Him, nor did He look forward to the pain, the agony, and the shame. He didn’t deserve that cup because of anything He had done. He drank that cup for us, although it was what we deserved. The cup was an important part of His work. It was necessary in order to fulfill the work of God. Therefore, He submitted to it and never turned back.

Jesus said very clearly that no man could take His life. He laid it down in order to do the work of God.

John 10:17-18

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Fa-

ther.

Everything Jesus did for us He did willingly! First, because He knew and loved the Father. Secondly, because He knew and loved us. Had Jesus not gone to the cross and lay in the grave for three days and nights, we, who have believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, would not be the children of God. He had to lay in the grave until the father said, “Come forth.” Jesus had the power to come out of that grave by Himself, but He waited on the Father to resurrect Him so He could fulfil the work of God and He could be our example of how to live a resurrected life. Jesus’ death was not a tragedy. It was a majestic work that made it possible for mankind to live eternally in heaven with the Father. At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and

rightfully so, but are we living a resur-rected life today?

The older I get, the more I grieve over the lifeless Christians today. Sure, we will be resurrected when that last trump shall sound, but Jesus ex-pects us to walk and live a resurrected life daily. If the Holy Spirit is not work-ing through your life, it just might be that you have not experienced a resur-rected life. You might say, “Well, I’m saved, isn’t that all that matters?” NO! That is not all that matters. What does Jesus say to us?

John 12:23-25

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should

be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground

and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall

keep it unto life eternal.KJV

The first thing Jesus does after our salvation is to show us how to live a resurrected life. When we are birthed into God’s family, we are birthed by the Word of God, which is the seed of God. Our flesh surrounds this seed. In the seed of our new birth lies the beauty of God’s plans for our life. As long as the flesh lives, the seed cannot sprout forth. We must allow ourselves to be crucified with Christ and die to our fleshly life, so our spiritual life can resurrect and shoot forth and bring forth fruit.

Except the seed fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone! Your

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PRECIOUS MEMORIES This week I have been reminded of just how precious memories are. My cousin’s husband died a few weeks ago and I invited her to come spend a few days with Jerry and me. She had never been to our home, so I met her across town and led her to our house.

I need to explain why this visit brought back such wonderful memories. My daddy was raised in the country. He farmed all his life until he and mother were married and moved to Dallas. A good many of his family stayed on the farm while a few moved to the big city. In 1943 my daddy was paid 75 cents a day to work the farm for his daddy. He learned that he could move to Dallas and make $12.50 a week working at a gas station. So to Dallas they went. All of my grow-ing up days, daddy would tell my sister and I wonderful stories about his days on the farm. My sister and I felt we had been robbed by having to live in the city. His farm life sounded like such fun compared to ours.

My daddy’s father surrendered to preach when my father was about 12 years old. Papa would hop wagons and go from city to city to preach tabernacle meetings. He never held a meeting that there weren’t converts. Daddy’s mother was left to run the farm, and the children dropped out of school to keep it going. Daddy didn’t have a lot of education, but he was a very wise man. This was dur-ing the depression and food was hard to come by. Daddy would catch rabbits for their food. He once told me that since he didn’t want to kill a rabbit that was to small, he would run up beside it and fill of his ribs before he would catch him. I believed him for a long time. He did catch a rabbit once and it almost tore his shirt off. But what he really liked to do, was catch a snake by the tail and pop it’s head off. Mother had heard him talk of doing this, but she had never seen it. They were coming from the church where they had just been married and a rattle snake was crossing the road in front of them. Daddy stopped the car, grabbed it by the tail and popped it’s head off. What a way to start a marriage!

My cousin and her family stayed on the farm. She saw our life as very interesting and I saw her life as very interesting. One year, we started spending a week at her house and a week at our house. Her mother made the best homemade bread you ever tasted. I would eat until I couldn’t hold another bite. My cousin would come to our house and she thought she was in heaven eating store bought bread. She would ask my mother if she could have one more piece of toast. I thought potatoes grew on trees until I saw them digging up potatoes. I learned a lot at the farm and my cousin learned a lot in the city. When we went to the country, daddy would get all of us a cotton sack and we would pick cotton for the FUN of it. My cousin thought we had lost our minds. She worked the fields all the time and she couldn’t see anything funny about it.

Well, many years have gone by since we had those wonderful times to-gether. This last week we returned to our childhood and had a wonderful time together. She brought her mother’s bread recipe and we made wonderful home-made bread. We also made egg noodles. We talked of all our yesterdays and the things our parents had taught us. We remembered how blessed we were to have good parents. We cried together, we prayed together, and we sang together, like we did so many times before. It was wonderful.

We had different lives, but we had the same heritage. God ruled and reigned in our family. Everything we did was centered around the word of God.

We would be the first to tell you that we did not have a perfect family. We have our stories just like every one else does, but we solved our problems by the Word of God. We knew when we did wrong our family would hold us to God’s Word and we would have to make it right.

This week my cousin called and said her doctor confirmed she has breast cancer and will have major sur-gery in May. This is very close to her husbands death and now she enters into another time of testing. She’s family and we will stick together, still making memories and enjoying one another’s love.

You are making memories to-day for yourself and for those whose lives you touch. What kind of memo-ries are you making? Will people have sweet memories when your name is mentioned? Will they remember you as loving or as selfish? Will they re-member you as giving or stingy? Will they remember you as happy or com-plaining?

I am so thankful for a family that exercised the Word of God in their lives and left with us such wonderful memories. My parents did wrong, but when they realized it they made it right. My parents got angry from time to time, but they never LOST their tem-per. They dedicated themselves to liv-ing what they said they believed. I am not sure I would have become a Chris-tian if I had just heard the Word of God and not seen it being lived out in our home. What I saw in my family gave me the courage to trust God’s Word.

Are you living what you say you believe? Is Christ real to you? Do you live daily with a hope that God will be there when you have a need? Do others see you living by faith? When is the last time you prayed and saw God answer that prayer? What memories are you making for yourself and oth-ers? The song Precious Memories, on the next page, says it all.

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He Is Not Finished WithSympathy

(This is taken from “The Folded Napkin” by Bro. Clyde Box.)

We have a Christ who can touch us. When I witness for Christ, I have to get over close to that one to whom I’m talking. Christ is like that.

Twenty-seven years ago my wife had cancer. At that time I was invin-cible. Nothing could touch me. Everything was always going to be all right. I was going to make it through life and preach and die of old age and go on to Heaven. And certainly nothing could happen to my wife.

Then she found a little lump in one of her breasts. Later, when I was told it would require radical surgery, I went down to the chapel. I prayed, I cried, I begged, yet I couldn’t get any peace.

Then suddenly it felt just like Jesus put His arms about me and said, “The napkin is still folded, Clyde. I’m not through with sympathy. I feel your sorrow, your heartache.” Thank God for a sympathetic Saviour!

We were poor kids. (My daddy died when I was three years old.) The Salvation Army used to give us clothes. My brother, wouldn’t wear them if they didn’t fit. I would, no matter what they looked like. We were going downtown one day. I put on a coat and a pair of pants that were too big and wore a bandanna around my neck.

My brother said, “Let’s play a game.” I asked, “What’s the name of the game.” He answered, “It’s going to be ‘We Don’t Know Each Other.’” I had not heard of that game, but since he was older than I he must know it. How do we

play it?” I asked. He said, “when we get on this bus, you sit on that side, and I’ll sit on this side.” We got on the bus - I was trying to get fun out of the game! I would look at him, but he acted like he didn’t notice. I would turn around and try to say something, but he would ignore me. Later on I understood. He was ashamed of my clothes.

He got cancer. I didn’t know what to do or say to him. I loved him very much. During that time we got closer than we had ever been. I kissed him just before he died and said, “I love you, brother.” I didn’t know how I was going to do his funeral. “Christ put His arms around me and said, “You can do this. I’m not finished with sympathy.”

When I get to Heaven, I believe my brother will be the first one to say, “Hey, that’s my brother!” He won’t be ashamed of me then, and of course, I’ll have on a white robe! Christ is not fin-ished with us. He left the napkin folded at the Lord’s Supper. He left it folded in the empty tomb, saying to us, “I’m coming back. “I’m not finished!”

He is coming! He is coming!We can almost hear the sound

Of His footsteps on the threshold,And our hearts with gladness bound.

All around us men are seeking,Turning blind eyes to the light,

Longing, fearing, not yet daringTo escape from sin’s dark night.

Yet the message is so simple:“I will surely come again.”

‘Tis the glad news of the GospelRinging sweetly through earth’s pain.

When He comes, may I be ready,Watching, praying, working still.

Though He tarry, may I dailyLearn more perfectly His will.

He is not finished with sympa-thy. He is not finished saving sinners or sanctifying saints or send out ser-vants. The napkin is still folded. “If I go...I will come again.” ----Bro. Clyde Box

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FEMALE

I N S P I R A T I O N S

By Gloria Brewster

In the first few verses of Philippians 2, Paul says if we have enjoyed the work of Christ in our lives, by having been consoled, having been comforted with His love, having fellowshiped with the Spirit, then we should be “likeminded”. How did Jesus come to the place of being willing to die on the cross, lay in the grave three days, and wait for His resurrection just in order to give us salvation? His mind was to do the “Will of the Father”. This same mind should be in us who have tasted that the Lord is good.

Above is a graph of Philippians chapter two. These verses teach us how to serve others with the same mind the Lord Jesus Christ served us.

EQUALITY! This is the most misunderstood word to mankind. Many people struggle with either thinking they are better than others or that they are less than others. You CANNOT serve others effectively until you KNOW who you are. The middle line on the graph shows that all are created equal. Even the little new born baby has as many rights as the mature adult. God tells us over and over in the scriptures that He is NOT a RESPECTER of PERSONS. We know that, but we do not live as though we believe it. There can not be any doubt in our minds that we have as much right to life as anyone else who has the breath of life in them. Our positions are different, but our created person is equal to all.

Why did Jesus submit to becoming a man, when He was God the Word. Was He any less than the Father? He clearly states that while He was in the form of God, He did not think it was robbery to be equal with God. (Phil. 2:6) There was a work to be done, and He, loving the Father, submitted Himself to do the work of bringing God’s creation back to the Father. How did Jesus prepare Himself to do the will of the Father?

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flesh must die and decay so the life of the seed can spring forth. There are many lonely and unfulfilled Christians today because they refuse to die to their life (flesh) so the Spirit of God can spring forth and bear fruit to their lives. They never know the benefits that are theirs from trusting Christ because they refuse to give up their life and therefore they remain alone! They attempt to serve and please God, but they do it in their flesh and not their spirit. Because they do not walk in the Spirit they are tired, weary, and lonely from the journey. If they do not cease to live through the flesh, they will fall by the wayside.

Jesus is our example. He had the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. In our flesh, we have the power to lay down our fleshly life or to take it up. God never makes His children serve Him. Just like Jesus it is our re-sponsibility to submit to the cross and the grave. It is also our responsibility to stay in the grave until God resurrects us.

Jesus said He laid down His life so He could take it again. A lot of Christians fear laying down their lives be-cause they don’t realize that after they have done the work of laying down, then comes their resurrection day and they can live their lives again. Only this time it will be to the glory of God the Father who will lead and direct them.

Do you want your life to bring forth fruit? You must die to self. God says that the person who is dead does not sin! One of the reasons we can’t get free from our sin is because we are not dead to our flesh. There is only one way to find a fruitful life and that is in following Jesus to the cross and letting God the Father resurrect you to a new life.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

KJV

When we die to self and allow God to resurrect us into a fruitful life, our fruit will be determined by God. Some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. The pictures around this lesson remind us that there are many stages to the resurrected life and the fruit is determined from the soil we are planted in. As we seek the word of God for our nourishment, we must prepare the soil. There is the way side, the stony places, the thorns, and the good ground. The tilling of the soil is our job. -------Jerry Brewster

(Continued from page 1)I AM THE RESURRECTION AND

THE LIFE!

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LIKEMINDED Phil 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

KJV

REPUTATION! To be a great servant of God we must put aside working on our reputation and be willing to do the work of God’s reputation. He came to serve God, not Himself. Sometimes I think this is the hardest part to accomplish. Because we have a desire to do good we go about trying to prove our reputation instead of the Fathers. The first five years of my Christian life, I worked hard at trying to show God how good a Christian I was, and I failed miserably. One day I said to the Lord, “I give up! I just can’t do it.” I could feel God’s smile upon me as the Holy Spirit said to me, “Good! Now God can show you how great a God He is!” If we truly let God work through us and build His reputation, we will acquire a reputation also, but it will not be the motivation of our lives.

FORM OF A SERVANT! Just like Christ, we take upon us the form of a servant. A true servant’s heart is a submitted willing heart. No one can make you have a servant’s spirit. They can force you to serve, but they can’t make you accept it. A great servant becomes great because they chose to be great. This is called “free will”, and we all have a free will.

WAS MADE! Jesus submitted to being God’s servant and it was God who chose what He would become. God made Jesus in the likeness of men! He created man and now He finds Himself in the same shoes of the men He had cre-ated. That would be humbling, would it not? Yet, Jesus did not balk at His service to the Father or question who He was to be.

HUMBLED! As a man, when Jesus finds Himself in His knew body, He humbled Himself and BECAME obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. God has given us life and He has a plan for our lives. We do not know what He will make of us when we submit to His will and choose to be His humble servant. I don’t know what God is going to ask of my life before it is over and you do not know what He will ask of your life before it is over. Are we willing to follow His will even to death, regardless of what kind of a death that will be? Will we trust Him with our lives the way Jesus trusted Him?

EXALTED! Because Jesus did the will of the Father and finished the work He had been given, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. The highest honor!

We all desire to be exalted. It doesn’t work to attempt to exalt ourselves. It just makes us look silly. But God has promised to exalt us if we are obedient

to His Word. From time to time others will exalt us if they are following the mind of Christ, but the ultimate is to experience the exalting of the Lord.

As the servant of the Lord, we are told to esteem others better than ourselves. Looking back at our graph the top line is where we are to lift the life of the one we are serving. Notice, we do not change our equal status, we raise them above us. We do not do this because of what they deserve, we do this in obedience to God’s command. We do what we do as unto the Lord. Everyone responds favorably when we show concern and respect for their lives and not just our own.

HUMILIATE! What if the other person looks down upon us and in their minds place us on the bot-tom line? That shows a problem with their mind, not ours. What others think of us does not change who we are. They do not have the power to change what God created you and me to be. If their minds are corrupt and they desire to destroy instead of bless, it affects their lives a whole lot more than it does ours. My actions are a beam in my eye, but the one coming against me has a mote in their eyes. Their mote does not ef-fect me like the beam in my eye does.

Mankind is cruel to one anoth-er. My mother use to say, “Only man kills the wounded!” We see a problem and we set out to expose or destroy in-stead of washing their feet and helping them find healing. God has saved us and given us His Spirit so we can love mankind back to the Father.

Jesus didn’t come to earth the first time to destroy, He came to save that which was lost. Our ministry is not judgment, it is restoration. When Jesus returns He will return as the Lion and He will straighten out all things that are crooked.

Mark 9:35If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

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TID BITS MONTHLY REPORT

Have you ever had anything happen to you that just made your heart stop for a moment, then fear would set in? Well, Gloria had this months paper two thirds ready for the printer and lost it in the computer. It turned out to be a simple problem, but until the answer came it was heart breaking. We pray about our paper and it is always our plans to get the paper out at the first of each month, but it is amazing how that doesn’t seem to work for us. There will be times when we just cannot get a lesson on our hearts at the time we feel we should be writing. Then one morning in devotions God will give the lesson and we understand why we couldn’t write before.

More than anything, we desire this little paper to be a blessing to you when you read it. It’s our hope that the lessons will light your spiritual fire and put a spring in your spiritual step. It’s our hope that it will help you to know the God we serve better than you did before. We love to sit with Christian friends and glean what they have learned from walking with the Lord, and we love to share with you the things God has walked us through these many years as we have served Him and loved Him. We are in the last days and we need to encourage one another, because Satan knows his days are numbered and he is raising his ugly head, attempting to destroy all that has to do with God and God’s children.

Well, thanks to our son, who came over and in minutes recovered the paper, we are now getting it to you. Late, but coming!

We would appreciate it if you would continue to pray for us about our last days and how God wants us to serve. We seem to keep a full days work every day for the ministry, and for this we are thankful, but we need to know how God wants us to bring our support in. It was our plans to work a few hours a week to take care of our needs, but every time we think we have the answer, God does not bring it to pass. So far, every time we have had a need God has provided, Gloria’s daddy used to say, “I don’t want to be rich, I just want a dollar every time I need it!” That would certainly work. God has taught us many things about money and one is that we lean upon Him only to supply our needs. He uses others, but we wait for God to talk to others about us instead of us talking to oth-ers. That way we know it is of God. We have had three people to take us on for support. We do not have the liberty to ask churches or God’s people for monthly support, but God did and we are thankful for that. There is this fleshly desire to run ahead of God, which we are so good at, but we desire to not do that at this time of our life. It is very important that we wait upon God. Many of you have encouraged and shared your lives with us and we are so very grateful.

Gloria has been talking about writing a book for 30 years are more, but never has had the time to set aside and work on it. Right now she has the opportunity to write two books for two godly women who have very interesting lives. One is Mrs. Lucy Havens, the wife of little George Havens, the evangelist. He died 25 years ago and their story of how God worked in their lives is outstanding. The other is Mrs. Barbara Law, who sang all over the world and her Scottish husband played for many important revivals of godly men who preached the Word of God with power.

Many of our supporters are in need of our prayers for their health. Mrs. Bob-bie Mayhew was the first person to begin supporting this paper and she has some serious health problems and she needs your prayers. We can’t write about all the needs but ask that you pray for those who support the paper each month. We love making the paper free of charge so we can hand it out to anyone who might want it. One friend gave an offering this month that paid for one months mailing. That was a real blessing.

Please consider writing us and sharing your testimonies with us. We may not print all in the paper, but each one means a lot to us and we will share as God gives us lib-erty too. The personal work that God does in your life encourages others who are waiting for answers in their lives.

Tid Bits of Wisdom is a non-profit work and operates through the Wonderful Word Publishers, whose founders were Bro. Dick and Mrs. Rose Cimino. The Tid Bits of Wis-dom is published by Bro. Jerry and Mrs. Gloria Brewster. The tract ministry is operated by Mrs. Connie Cimino. All gifts are tax deductible. Tid Bits of Wisdom’s web site is tid-bitswww.com. Our email is tidbitsw-ww@aol.com. Phone: 214-293-5252

LETTERS FROM READERS

I’ve been blessed and gleaned so much from your teaching. God bless you. P.S. We have been married 45 years and I call Rae Jean “beauti-ful” too! SM Davis

God bless you dear friends, think of you and pray for you often. We both send our love. Bro. Joe and Doris West.

I’m leaving soon to help my youngest daughter with her new baby, my 16th grandchild. My cup of bless-ings is running over. Love getting your paper. Nancy Smith

Hope you both are well. Stan-ley will be pulling a trailer to help me move this May. ( this is Gloria’s cousin and a supporter of the paper. Her move is a big change in her and Gloria’s life. Please pray for Linda’s big change in life.) Linda Kissel

The Lord spoke to my heart to send you a love offering. You and Jerry are such a blessing to us all. You always speak words of encouragement and my heart is lighter. Thanks for all you do. Linda Dunn

What’s right Is what’s left

After you’ve done everything else wrong.Robin Williams

THE WONDERFUL WORD&

Tid Bit’s of Wisdom--Psalms 68:11--

Founded December, 1966WONDERFUL WORD Magazine, now Tid Bits of Wisdom, is the of-ficial voice of WONDERFUL WORD PUBLISHERS, a non-profit, religious organization, endeavoring to publish Gospel Literature in the Spanish Lan-guage for world-wide distribution, through Bible believing Missionar-ies at no cost to them. It is published as the Lord enables. It is dedicated to Missionary activity on the fields already white unto harvest, and contending for the verbally inspired Word, exalting the LIVING WORD.

SPANISH TRACTSWonderful Word Publishers

P.O., Box 315Powell, Tenn 37849

CMCimino@yahoo.com

‘TID BITS OF WISDOM’Bro. Jerry & Gloria Brewster

1801 Old Hickory TrailDeSoto, Texas 75115

E-mail TidBitsWWW@aol.com

Website: tidbitswww.com214-293-5252

Non-Profit Organ.U.S. PostagePermit 697

DeSoto, Texas 75115

TID BITS of WISDOM from theWONDERFUL WORD

Publishers, Inc.1801 Old Hickory Trail

DeSoto, Texas 75115

John 11:25-26

Jesus said unto her, I am the resur-rection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall

he live:

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou

this?KJV