Two Thieves!

Dropping in quick to post this awesome quote that I heard our evangelist share this morning in his message...

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves

- regret for the past and fear of the future.”

-Fulton Oursler

Thought that was just dynamic and wanted to share it with you all. It couldn't be more true!

What are you doing???

Today I had the unusual opportunity to wake up at 5 AM! This is not my typical routine, but, nonetheless, I did it. Not becuase I wanted to, but because we had our sectional men's breakfast this morning. About 70 men in our area gathered together to eat, fellowship, worship the Lord together and to hear the Word of God preached.

Evangelist Tony Cruz was our speaker this year, and he brought a great word for us to hear as he referenced the life of David. The theme was that we men are in "the fight of our lives." And he brought three points we need to heed... First, we must have a Samuel in our lives who speaks into us. Next, we must face our Goliaths, and overcome them. Finally, we have to overcome our Bathshebas.

I enjoyed everything that I heard and know that it was effective. In fact, I wanted to comment on one thing that I felt the Lord reveal to me in this regard...especially with the final point. From 2 Samuel 11:1, it says that, "Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem." It struck me that when David should have been battling himself, he was not doing that; instead he was falling. The Lord impressed upon my heart that when we are not battling, we will be easy prey for the enemy, and failure is more apt to come. So, we have to stay in the battle DAILY!

Listen to 1 Peter 5:8 - Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Hey, we can never afford to take time for R & R when it comes to the Spiritual battle we are in, otherwise the enemy will have all the more opportunity to move in on us, and overcome us in areas less guarded.

So keep your eyes opened, and stay in the good fight of faith, because this battle is a good one. Plus, realistically, it is a battle for not only your life, but for the life of your family.

Food for thought...

Here is a quote by Leonard Ravenhill that I have heard before, but was reminded of it recently. Something for us to consider in regard to our own hearts...

"One of these days some simple soul will pick up

the Book of God, read it, and believe it.

Then the rest of us will be embarrassed."

I want to be one of those who read it and believe it; how about you? I don't like to be embarrassed, do you?

Up-To-Date VS Out-Of-Date?

In our morning devotions with our kids today, the Lord brought us to a great passage, and then conversation, about the Word of God being up-to-date with today and our world.

Surely, we have all heard people say that the Bible is old, antiquated and has absolutley no relevancy in our modern society. The DaVinci Code helped to motivate that lie in our world...especially among those who have no real understanding of Scripture, and who have never really studied them. However, those who are in Christ know that those statements are false!

Here was our text for today...

Colossians 1:15-18 - And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. [16] For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. [17] And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [18] He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

I have to say that it was great to be able to tell our children that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have always been, they are present now, and always will be in existence. The illustration that the devotional gave was that an old book on flowers is still applicable today because the flowers are still the same today as they were 100 years ago and even before then. The same is true of God's Word! Hebrews 13:8 tells us that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever." Neither has He changed! The Word of God is God's revelation of Himself to man.

I take confidence in the fact that the Bible, the all-time best-seller, is still relevant to my life (and yours) today.

Church Sold!

Ran across this from a friend's e-newsletter...he got it from Lark News.

Enjoy!

BIG TIMBER, Mont. - Without their consent or knowledge, a pastor in rural Montana has sold his church and congregation on eBay for $3 million. "I finally got good and sick of them," says Tad Marshall, pastor for 15 years who completed the secret sale last week. "This serves them right. All of them." But many in the church are stunned by the Marshall family's sudden departure. "We had such a good relationship," says Winifred Barnes. "Whenever I called him in the middle of the night to pray for my psoriasis, he was happy to help. I'm surprised he would treat us this way." Others expressed similar feelings. "We would stop by for surprise visits every time he had a day off, and his wife was always quick to put a pot of coffee on," says Fred Souther. "We'd sit there and chat for hours. Those were wonderful times." One woman recalls how Pastor Marshall responded to her plea to visit her ailing mother every day during her prolonged illness at a hospital 78 miles away. "I don't think he did it because we threatened to quit the church. I think he was genuinely concerned for Mother even though she was in a coma," she says. "We would sit with her for hours singing hymns to her. I could tell he was blessed by it." Another longtime member recalls the day a group of women surprised the pastor's wife with an impromptu shopping trip. "It was clear she was unable to afford modest clothing, so we charged right in and threw away everything in her closet," she says. "Then we bought her new ankle-length dresses with long sleeves. She cried tears of joy that day. She kept saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this.' It was a bonding moment for all of us." Even the board, which had its share of differences with Marshall, recalls him fondly. They say he happily abided by the church's Dress and Grooming Code, kept sermons to 23 minutes as the board required and even abandoned his use of the New Living translation on Sunday morning. "Once he understood it is a devilish translation that twists the words of the original spoken English, he said he'd be happy to go back to using the Authorized King James Version," an elder says. "That's the way Tad was. A real go-along guy." Friends from out of state say Marshall came to rural Montana hoping to find a friendly lifestyle where he could help good-hearted people grow closer to Christ. Instead he found "an enclave of faux-Christian Pharisees" who demanded he serve their every whim, says one seminary buddy. One day while selling old exercise equipment on eBay to supplement his church income, which had been docked by the board because a service had gone too long, Marshall decided to rid himself of the congregation in a creative way. His eBay listing emphasized the positive: "This delightful country church sits on 2 acres of land. Comes complete with congregation and 35 regular tithers! Sunday school wing, no mortgage. Bids start at $200,000." Recent Bible college graduates bid first, hoping to gain a built-in congregation on the cheap. Then several entrepreneurs with ministry ambitions swooped in, driving the price up. Kevin Silver, a 39-year-old former Internet company founder, won with a last-minute bid. He is looking forward to "leaving the spiritual corruption of the big city behind" and taking the helm of the rural congregation. "I always wanted to serve at a little country church where decent people just want to pursue God," he says. "My wife and I are looking forward to settling into community life and getting to know these wonderful folks. This will be a great second chapter of life for us."
APRIL FOOLS!

Funny...

I came across this joke that has a New England flare...being from Maine, I really appreciated it. Enjoy!

A song leader at a church in New Hampshire was preparing for the Sunday morning worship service. She had planned on playing her guitar, but her electronic tuner was missing. “Maybe I left it in the car,” she thought.
Heading out to the garage, she passed her husband in the living room, watching TV. “Please pray that I find my tuner,” she mentioned out loud, and then asked God to help her find it.
As she searched through the car, she didn’t find anything in the back seat, but then reached under the front seat, and pulled out a can of tuna.
Her husband heard her laughter from all the way in the house and came out to the garage. “Honey,” she chuckled, “the Lord sure answered that prayer – New England accent and all!”

Well, the Bible does tell us in Matthew 7:7 - "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." Do some ASKing today!

Blessings!

Sincerity

Here is a devotional that I ran across which compliments my message in last night's service from Zechariah 7... Hope it blesses!

“Be sincere... until the day of Christ.”– Philippians 1:10 (NAS)

The word sincere comes from a Latin word meaning “without wax”. In the original Greek it means “sun-tested”. In Bible times merchants sold very fine porcelain that was greatly valued and therefore expensive. Sometimes when it was fired in the kiln tiny cracks would appear. Dishonest merchants would smear pearly-white wax over these cracks, which would pass for unblemished porcelain – unless it was held up to the light of the sun. Honest merchants marked their wares sine cera – “without wax”. That’s a picture of genuine sincerity. No sham, no hypocrisy, no hidden cracks to be covered over.

You say, “How can I live this way?” By keeping your eyes on Christ, not Christians! Paul writes, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph 4:1 NIV). When Paul wrote this he was under house arrest in Rome, yet he didn’t regard himself as a prisoner of the Romans. No, he was a prisoner of Jesus, a voluntary slave, totally in subjection to the Lord. There’s a metaphorical meaning to this word “prisoner”. It can mean “binding as with a spell”. Paul was literally captivated by Jesus Christ! He thought and talked about nothing else. He got up every morning determined to please Him. Some days he didn’t do too well. We all have those days. But the next morning he was up and at it again, more determined and more committed than ever.

Paul’s sincerity wasn’t based on keeping certain religious rules or trying to look good. It was based on a deep love relationship with Christ: “Whatever we do, it is... because Christ’s love controls us” (2 Corinthians 5:14 TLB).

from The Word for Today, February 5, 2008; www.thewordfortoday.com.au