The church in the city of Corinth seems to have had more heresy and divisons than most of the other churches. They divided over Paul, Cephas, Apollos and Christ (I Cor. 1:12). Some of them got drunk at the Lord's Supper (I Cor. 11:21). They kept in membership and fellowship a man living in open shame with his stepmother (I Cor. 5:1). Their women took too prominent a part in the church services and had to be rebuked by the apostles (I Cor. 14:34, 35).
And here at Corinth, the modern false and perverted tongues movement seems to have started. A study of Paul's rebuke in the 14th chapter of I Corinthians shows that the doctrine and practice of the Christians at Corinth of the tongues movement was not what the apostles had had at Pentecost. - John R. Rice [I Am A Fundamentalist, pg. 204]
The Pilgrim Fathers who had come to America to make a home in the wilderness where they might have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, had the first harvest in 1621. So at Plymouth, Massachusetts, the little hand of devoted people, hewing homes out of the wilderness amid many perils, set apart a day of thanksgiving to God. And on that day they feasted and gave thanks. - John R. Rice [Count Your Blessings, pg. 2]
President Lincoln appointed the last Thursday of November, 1864, as Thanksgiving Day. Now the Thanksgiving Day tradition is firmly established in America, and every person who has a grateful heart should devoutly thank God and take stock and count his blessings. - John R. Rice [Count Your Blessings, pg. 2]
Thanksgiving day should only be one day to make official and public the praise that should resound in our hearts and testimonies throughout the year. By divine inspiration, David wrote, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth"! (Ps. 34:1). Again he said, "And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long" (Ps. 35:28). - John R. Rice [Count Your Blessings, pg. 2]
So, Christian, count your blessings! Like David, say to yourself, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." See that the prayer of your lips is praise from the heart. See that all your being is involved in this holy matter of thanksgiving and glory to God! Count your blessings. "Forget not all his benefits." - John R. Rice [Count Your Blessings, pg. 3-4]
So let every one who counts his blessings think of the unfailing favor of God who, day after day, has supplied food to satisfy the body, to delight the heart.
How fitting that, with bowed heads and reverent hearts, every home at mealtime should thank God for the food. What wicked ingratitude it is to eat like pigs with both feet in the feed trough, without a heartfelt thank-you to the Giver of every good and perfect gift! - John R. Rice [Count Your Blessings, pg. 21]
I have heard men pray most earnest and fervent prayers for sinners. They would say perhaps, "Lord, send the Holy Spirit over to that sinner and convict him so that he can't sleep, so he can't eat. Convict him deeper than sin has ever left a stain, so that he will have to come and be saved." But I have known such men who have prayed so earnestly and eloquently, who have never lifted a finger to keep anybody out of Hell, and who sat at home and read the newspapers while they wanted to send the Holy Spirit, like a Western Union messenger boy, over to do the work which God had commanded them to do. I am not minimizing the work of the blessed Holy Spirit. I know that no sinner will ever be saved who is not convicted and enlightened by the Spirit of God. But God's plan is that the Holy Spirit shall work through Christians. He is to make His appeal through the heart, and the voice, and the tears, and the handclasp, and the earnest entreaty of a Christian who loves Him. - John R. Rice [Golden Path of Successful Personal Soul Winning, pg. 96]
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