Just average
By steve | May 10, 2010
??•´`°•.¸¸.´’`°•.¸? Just Average???????º°’´`°
Did you know that the average Christian will, over the course of their life of about 35 - 40 years: Attend more than 1,600 church services hear more than 1,600 sermons, sing over 20,000 christian worship songs, participate in over 10,000 public prayers..AND will lead ZERO people to faith in… Jesus Christ in the course of their Christian lifetime. It’s a sobering and sad statistic. How close are you to being an average Christian? As Lucy said to Linus ‘we’re all capable of doing much better’.
The 12 disciples that Jesus chose to follow him were just ordinary, average people. Peter, Andrew, James and John were just ordinary, average, everyday fishermen, living ordinary, average lives, doing ordinary, average jobs. Matthew was just an ordinary, average, everyday tax collector, living an ordinary, average life, doing an ordinary, average job. But then they met Jesus and they became average, ordinary people, living extra-ordinary lives. That’s what happens. When ordinary, average people have an encounter with Jesus Christ they become average, ordinary people living extra-ordinary lives!
But it doesn’t end there. These disciples didn’t remain average people. They didn’t remain ordinary people. When they first met Jesus Christ they became average, ordinary people living extra-ordinary lives – but when they met the risen Christ – they became extra-ordinary people living extra-ordinary lives – and they went out and stood up and claim the ultimate truth of the gospel.
We need to be extra-ordinary christians!
And it takes extra-ordinary people, living extra-ordinary lives to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. It takes extra-ordinary people, living extra-ordinary lives to proclaim that Jesus is Lord.. It takes extra-ordinary people, living extra-ordinary lives to proclaim that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved – and it’s the name of Jesus Christ. We need to be extra-ordinary people, we need to be extra-ordinary Christians, we have to be living extra-ordinary lives.
May God pour out his grace on us to make us strong. May we experience a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit in our day. May we become extra-ordinary people living extra-ordinary lives and may God grant us the courage that we might be able to take the gospel from our four church walls to the ends of the earth !!!!!!!
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let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another
By steve | May 4, 2010
Romans 14:13….Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of a brother.
Among God’s warnings to us in scripture, there are none more somber or serious than His warning to n…ot become a stumbling block to His followers. “…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6)
A “critical spirit,” is an obsessive attitude of criticism and fault-finding, which seeks to tear others down — not the same thing as what is sometimes called “constructive criticism.” The only criticism that is ever constructive is that which is expressed in love to “build up,” not to tear down — it is always expressed face-to-face, never behind their back.
The person with a critical spirit usually dwells on the negative, seeks for flaws rather than good. They’re a complainer, usually always upset, and generally have a problem or a complaint about something. They often have little control over their tongue, their temper, and have tendencies for gossip and slander, which Paul said were sins “worthy of death” (Rom. 1:29-32)
This type of individuals have negativeness -a bad attitude and a negative view of life. They have insecurity - criticism is often a subconscious means to “elevate one’s own self image.” By putting others down, they are inwardly trying to feel more important or that “they know more.” An unrenewed mind - they put-downs, making-fun-of, criticism, sarcasm are the world’s ways of reacting to the faults of people. And the enemy which specializes in influencing obsessive behavior. The enemy may use any or all of the this channels, or other techniques, to influence a complaining or critical attitude to stir up turmoil and strife within the body of Christ (Eph. 6:12)
If we ever hope to bring improvement in ourselves, we need to become people of encouragement. This is the only attitude that will change us, and our actions and words must be devoted to encouraging the spiritual progress of our brethren.
The Christian’s tongue should never be used for anything but good. “Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word, nor unwholesome or worthless talk (ever) come out of your mouth; but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it” (Eph. 4:29)
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This day is coming.
By steve | April 29, 2010
Imagine, what a day it will be when the Lord welcomes us home! It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. We will understand then, as we can never understand now, that the very wounds which so often have been inflicted upon us have been the means of conforming us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of making Him all the more precious to us.
Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains. His dealing causes us to rejoice in the midst of affliction, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
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Evolution is a joke
By steve | April 28, 2010
Evolution A Joke from Below!We did NOT come from a monkey BELOW, and much less did Jesus Christ. Jesus was NOT a step in the upward evolution of man from below. He was an intervention of GOD from ABOVE!
Man was ruined and on his way DOWN and couldn’t save himself, but God so LOVED the world that He broke into the course of things and introduced another order of life, a SUPERNATURAL CHRIST, His only begotten SON, to RESCUE man from going down and to lift him UP.
Jesus Christ was not merely the best man who over lived, on his way up. He was the Son of God who came down from heaven to die for our sins and rise again. Jesus did it all for God’s “Masterpieces” His creation ~ US!!!
PRAISE Him CREATION of GOD !
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Psalm 104:16
By steve | April 26, 2010
The cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted.” –Psalm 104:16Did you know that Lebanon’s cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that they owe their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite true of every child of God. He is not man-planted, nor self-planted, but God-planted. The mysterious hand of the divine Spirit dropped the …living seed into a heart which He had Himself prepared for its reception.
Every true heir of heaven owns the great Husbandman as his planter. Moreover, the cedars of Lebanon are not dependent upon man for their watering; they stand on the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our heavenly Father supplies them. Thus it is with the Christian who has learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even in temporal things; for his continued maintenance he looks to the Lord his God, and to Him alone.
The dew of heaven is his portion, and the God of heaven is his fountain. Again, the cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any mortal power. They owe nothing to man for their preservation from stormy wind and tempest. They are God’s trees, kept and preserved by Him, and by Him alone.
It is precisely the same with the Christian. He is not a hot-house plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in the most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection, except this, that the broad wings of the eternal God always cover the cedars which He Himself has planted. Like cedars, believers are full of sap having vitality enough to be ever green, even amid winter’s snows.
Lastly, the flourishing and majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God only. The Lord, even the Lord alone has been everything unto the cedars, and, therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the psalms, “Praise ye the Lord, fruitful trees and all cedars.” In the believer there is nothing that can magnify man; he is planted, nourished, and protected by the Lord’s own hand, and to Him let all the glory be ascribed.
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Stay in Faith
By steve | April 20, 2010
~Stay in Faith~
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when …ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23, 24)
These are days when we need to have our faith strengthened, and this is done by reading His word. We need to know who are God really is and what He is capable of doing in our lives ~ NOW!.
God has designed that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by faith, no matter how he may be fettered. I know that God’s word is sufficient. If just one word from Him can change a nation ~ how much more your life?
His word is from everlasting to everlasting. It is through the entrance of this everlasting Word, this incorruptible seed, that we are born again, and come into this wonderful salvation. Man cannot live by bread alone, but must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This is the food of faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
God has a plan for you, and when He plans for you, in all there is peace. All things are possible if you will believe! Stay in faith!.
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This Jesus’s gravesite
By steve | April 14, 2010
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He is alive
By steve | April 14, 2010
This was the grave of Jesus.
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Word of God
By steve | April 5, 2010
~FOLLOW THE BELOVED~
“And they follow me.”–John 10:27
We should be following Jesus as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for He has a right to lead us wherever He pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price–let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows orders of his …captain, the employee follows orders of his employer, much more must we follow our Redeemer, the only one to whom we are a purchased possession.
We are not true to our profession of being Christians, if we question the bidding of our Leader and Commander. Often our Lord might say to us as to Peter, “What am I to you? Will you follow me.” Wherever Jesus may lead us, He goes before us. If we don’t know where we are going, we at least know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the delays and trials in the road? The journey may be long, but His everlasting arms will carry us to the end.
The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation, because He lives, we shall also live. We should follow Christ in faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory in Eternity. It is true they may not be smooth paths–they may be covered with sharp turns and trials, but they lead to the “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
“All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as we keep His covenant.” Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, His purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy.
We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Jesus; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire. To the top of the mountains or to the hills we will follow our Beloved.
My precious Jesus, draw us, and we will run after You!
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sorry
By steve | March 19, 2010
I have been neglecting your guys with words of wisdom. so found this on facebook.
,,><(((°>¸.·´¯`·.OUR SELFISHNESS,,><(((°>¸.·´¯`·.
One reason why people in the body of Christ aren’t experiencing the manifestation of their faith is because of “selfishness.” In essence, they believe that “it’s all about them.” Selfishness is concerned with self-preservation and protection. It literally cuts us off fr…om the blessing of God because it keeps us from allowing Him to be God in our life. Instead, we crown ourself god and trust in our own abilities more than our heavenly Father’s. In addition, selfishness causes us to operate from a position of always wanting to take the advantage, rather than give the advantage to someone else.
Selfishness is the exact opposite of love. The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. When you allow the works of the flesh—adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, heresies, envyings, drunkenness—to dominate your life, you are subject to the kingdom of darkness. On the other hand, when you stay in the circle of love ~ God, you stay in a place of protection from the attacks of the enemy.
Living a selfish life will stop the anointing of God from working in us. All sin is selfish. It is impossible to be “in sin” without also being focused on our own needs and desires. Think about it. When you do something that goes against the Word of God, you’re not thinking about how others will be affected. You certainly aren’t thinking about how God feels about your actions, at least not enough to stop engaging in the activity. Sin is based on the platform of self-exaltation and carnal gratification. From adultery and fornication to gluttony and strife, every work of the flesh has selfishness at its root and is propelled by the spirit of fear.
The only way to get rid of selfishness in our lifes is to cultivate the love of God. Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40:
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Jesus has commanded us to first love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; and secondly, to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we keep these commandments at the forefront of our thinking and purpose to act on them whenever we get the opportunity, selfishness has no choice but to get out of the way!
Jesus has come to set us free from fear and selfishness, so we have the liberty to love God and others freely. First John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love .”
Practice makes perfect—lets start to perfect our love walk today, one day at a time!!!
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