TODAY'S PROMISE

"Don't copy the behavior and customs

of this world, but let God transform

you into a new person by changing

the way you think.  Then you will learn

to know God's will for you, which is 

good and pleasing and perfect."

(Romans 12:2 NLT)

 

USEFUL FOR GOD

Moses earned his doctorate in Egypt.

"Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians,

and he was powerful in both speech and action."

(Acts 7:22 NLT)

You will remember that Moses while a young man

about 40 years old went out to help his fellow Israelites.

He killed an Egyptian trying to be a help.  He thought

that they would understand that he was trying to help

them.  He was the smartest Israelite in all of Egypt,

but had to flee for his life.  Moses was working in

the flesh and it failed him.

Moses became usable to God

forty years later humbled in the desert with Egypt

out of him and "the voice of the LORD called

out to him,"

(Acts 7:30 - 32 NLT)

Pardon my getting on this subject again.  But all 

around me I see churches lead by people who are 

trained and very smart BUT POWERLESS.

Perhaps that is why Bob Fraley said;

"In this past generation we have become

guilty of measuring spiritual progress by

what we know, not by how we live.  That is 

why in recent years the world has begun

to shout, 'God is dead!'"

We need to forget about being smart and get

ahold of God Almighty like the early Church did.

A long prayer they had concludes this way;

"And now, O Lord, hear their threats,

and give us, your servants, great boldness

in preaching your word.  Stretch out your

hand with healing power; may miraculous

signs and wonders be done through the

name of your holy servant Jesus."

"After this prayer, the meeting place

shook, and they were all filled with

the Holy Spirit.  Then they preached

the word of God with boldness." 

(Acts 4:29 - 31 NLT)

We need the fullness of the Spirit of God

far more than we need to learn some fancy

terms and theories.

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

“It has been observed that God has to

knock our props out from under us

before we will lean on Him.  And

generally He has to knock all of them

out, so that finding ourselves without

any support, we turn to Him in 

helpless despair.”

- Thomas A. Davis -

 

TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

 

Do you profess to be a

disciple of Jesus Christ?

Jesus said;

“So you cannot become my

disciple without giving up

everything you own.”

(Luke 14:33 NLT)

Are you still a disciple of Christ?

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

"My old self has been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives

in me.  So I live in this earthly body by 

trusting in the Son of God, who loved me

and gave himself for me"

(Galatians 2:20 NLT)

ARE YOU BEING FOOLISH?

It seems that the average person now days

is trying to figure out how to manipulate things

to get even more money.  You know, money to

make life easier or more comfortable or even 

for more toys to play with.

We did not bring any money into this old world

with us when we were born.  And we will not

take any out with us or the things money can buy

when we die.  That's when we will answer to God,

who gave us this life, as to what we did with the

life he gave us.

“Yes, a person is a fool to store

up earthly wealth but not have a

rich relationship with God.”

(Luke 12:21 NLT)

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

SIMPLICITY

“All of this top-heavy Christendom that we

know today was never known in the book of Acts

and in the days of the apostles.  Utter simplicity

was at the root of everything.  Faith was the 

power, or at least the instrument, and the Holy

Ghost the power that led them on and love

throbbed at the heart of their worship and purity

of life was demanded of them.  So they had wor-

ship and love and faith and their moral lives were

pure and their whole lives simple.”

- A.W. Tozer -

 

SELF HELP WILL NOT DO IT.

Have you noticed the trend for a number of years

now, you can do it, don't give up, just work a little

harder, etc., etc., etc.

That is not from God.

It is true that often God would have us work harder

at it or be more faithful etc.  But God's word tells

us that we cannot do it by ourself.  We have to have

God's help to win this battle of life.

Then, we can say;

"For I can do everything through Christ,

who gives me strength."

(Philippians 4:13 NLT)

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

"So, my dear brothers and sisters,

be strong and immovable.  Always

work enthusiastically for the Lord,

for you know that nothing you do 

for the Lord is ever useless."

(1Corinthians 15:58 NLT)

 

re King James

Hey you King James folks.

I was born and raised on King James.

I am still full of King James.

But recently I have been in one of the 

newer English versions.

The Bible in the English I speak slaps

me in the face harder and shouts in my 

ear louder than King James ever did.

If you don't want to hear from God loud

and clear stay in the King James.

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

KILLED BY ROUTINE.

“The treacherous enemy facing the church of

Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the

routine.  When the routine becomes “lord” in

the life of the church.  Programs are organized

and the prevailing conditions are accepted as

normal.  Anyone can predict next Sunday’s

service and what will happen.  This seems to 

be the most deadly threat in the church today.

When we come to the place where everything 

can be predicted and nobody expects anything

unusual from God, we are in as rut.”

- A.W. Tozer -

 

PRAISE GOD.

 

PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD.

That is an expensive medicine my doctor

told me I would have to take the rest of my

life.  BUT GOD.  I have been off of it for 

years now.  PRAISE GOD.

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

"And it is impossible to please God

without faith.  Anyone who wants

to come to him must believe that

God exists and that he rewards 

those who sincerely seek him."

(Hebrews 11:6 NLT)

PROSPERITY

"Yet true godliness with content-

ment is itself great wealth.  After all,

we brought nothing with us when

we came into the world, and we

can't take anything with us when we

leave it.  So if we have enough food

and clothing, let us be content.

But people who long to be rich

fall into temptation and are trapped

by many foolish and harmful de-

sires that plunge them into ruin and

destruction.  For the love of money

is the root of all kinds of evil.  And

some people, craving money, have

wandered from the true faith and 

pierced themselves with many

sorrows." 

(1 Timothy 6:6-10 NLT)

"Don't store up treasures here on 

earth, where moths eat them and 

rust destroys them, and where

thieves break in and steal.  Store

your treasures in heaven, where

moths and rust cannot destroy, and

thieves do not break in and steal.

Wherever your treasure is, there

the desires of your heart will also be.

(Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)

As I travel through this old world I want

to travel light.  Instead of loading myself 

down with the weight of "things" or "stuff" 

let me turn all of that expense and effort in

to treasures in heaven instead of just 

something else to take care of.

This worlds "things" will be gone at my 

death.  But what I have put into the work

of God will be a treasure I will have 

forever.

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

"Prayer is the elevation

of the heart to God and

that is all a man needs to

praise, to pray and to 

worship."

- A. W. Tozer -

 

PLAY OR SERVE

  

Remember how Jesus commented about some 

servants;

"The first servant reported, 'Master, I invested

your money and made ten times the original amount!

Well done! the king exclaimed."

............

"But the third servant brought back only the original

amount of money and said, 'Master, I hid your money

and kept it safe.  I was afraid because you are a hard

man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting

crops you didn't plant.'  You wicked servant!' the  king

roared. Your own words condemn you."

(Luke 19:16,17, 20-22 NLT)

Some of us will have to answer;

"Lord, I just played with your money."

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

"This includes you who were

once far away from God. You were

his enemies, separated from him by

your evil thoughts and actions.  Yet

now he has reconciled you to him -

self through the death of Christ in

his physical body.  As a result, he has

brought you into his own presence,

and you are holy and blameless as

you stand before him without a

single fault."

(Colossians 1:21,22 NLT)

 

TOO SMART?

Are we too smart for our own good?

Pardon me while I go an another "rant".

The last few years I have become so extremely 

tired of "dead" churches.  Oh, some of them have

a lot of programs going and make a lot of noise.

But they are like the church at Sardis where 

Christ said;

"I know all the things you do,

and that you have a reputation

for being alive - but your are dead."

(Revelation 3:1b NLT)

When was the last time you went to a church where

the sick were being healed, the blind seeing and the 

cripples walking?  I know.  There is a popular teaching

going around today that all of that stopped with the

time of the Apostles.  BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE.

Anybody willing to read outside of their own little

church circle can find that signs and wonders and

miracles still take place different places in the world

today.  One example.

There is an evangelist that is dead now, but just a

few years back when I was younger he was having

thousands of people healed of their sickness, blindness

or cripples healed.  I admit, back then I did not pay

any attention to him because - I did not like his looked.

But apparently God liked the way he looked.

But as I read back about a lot of the signs and wonders

that have taken place and still take place I note that

many of the times these are in areas where the people

are, could we say, simple and uneducated.

O.K.  You have got your doctorate.  Well, go and 

heal somebody.  Heal a cripple or blind person.

You might want to take your credentials with you so

that the person you are healing knows how qualified

you are to do the impossible for them.

I am beginning to think that the truth lies in a 

truth that Jesus pointed out a number of times;

"I tell you the truth, anyone

who doesn't receive the King-

do of God like a child will 

never enter it."

(Luke 18:17 NLT)

I am thinking that we are letting our brain get in

the way of a simple faith from the heart like a child.

"Stop deceiving yourselves.  If

you think you are wise by this

world's standards, you need to 

become a fool to be truly wise.

For the wisdom of this world is

foolishness to God.  As the 

Scriptures say,

'He traps the wise in the

snare of their own cleverness'

And again,

'The LORD knows the thoughts

of the wise; he knows they are

worthless'".

(1 Corinthians 3:18 - 20 NLT)

God, please give me the simple trusting 

faith of a child so you can work through

even me.