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Sunday, October 25, 2009
Hey Dads! Pay Attention
Hi Everyone!I just got done with Lesson #12 in the Full Armor of God Study with the kids. Sometimes they will complain a little bit about having to do the study at, what they think, is an inconvenient time. So, I wanted to point out to them Ephesians 6 and it inspired me to post it as well. When we belong to Christ, God expects us to raise our children in the instruction of The Lord. This is not a suggestion! If you have a desire to be obedient to God and you have been blessed with children, you NEED TO BE TEACHING THEM GOD'S WORD! Are you doing that, Dad? Maybe you don't know God's Word enough to be able to teach it...fine....learn it together. The Full Armor of God at theonebridge.com might be a place you want to start. The Hands to the Plow Ministry has amazing studies. John MacArthur has a fantastic study Bible you could use. If you do nothing else, commit yourself to raising your kids in the instruction of The Lord....that is God's Will!Steve
Monday, October 12, 2009
God Opposes the Proud
God Opposes the Proud
By Colin Smith
"God opposes the proud..." 1 Peter 5:5 (NIV) It is worth taking a moment to let these words sink in. God opposes the proud. If God opposes me, I'm finished. What hope is there of doing anything useful for Him if He stands in our way? If God be for us, who can be against us? But if God is against us-what hope do we have? God opposes the proud. He cannot bear to see it in is His children. Arrogance will bring me under His fatherly discipline. God gives grace"...but God gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5 (NIV) We sometimes use the expression, "Money makes money." You have to have some before you can make some. Well, it's the same principle here. Humility is a grace that attracts more grace. Pride closes the door to spiritual growth. But humility opens the door of your life to more of God's grace. To the humble, God gives patience, and peace, and gentleness. The fruit of the Spirit grows in the soul of humility. Humility is the key to spiritual growth: "God gives grace to the humble." God will lift you up"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:6 (NIV) This is a marvelous promise. God leads each of us on a path that has many twists and turns. When you are faced with surprises, disappointments, and upsets that God allows in your life, humble yourself. Accept what He allows. If you do that God will lift you up. God cares for you"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) This is one sentence with v6: "Humble yourselves... casting all your anxieties on Him for He cares for you." The proud person feels that he or she has to make things happen. The root of all worry lies in the idea that what happens is ultimately in my hands. If you think that what happens is ultimately in your hands, that's pride. None of us can add an inch to our height or an hour to our life by worrying about it. What happens is finally in the hands of God. There is a powerful insight here. If I want to deal with my anxiety, I have to start by dealing with my pride. Humility is the ultimate release from anxiety. Pride says, "What happens is up to me," and that leaves me anxious. Humility says, "Lord, everything that concerns me is in your hand," and that is the beginning of peace.
By Colin Smith
"God opposes the proud..." 1 Peter 5:5 (NIV) It is worth taking a moment to let these words sink in. God opposes the proud. If God opposes me, I'm finished. What hope is there of doing anything useful for Him if He stands in our way? If God be for us, who can be against us? But if God is against us-what hope do we have? God opposes the proud. He cannot bear to see it in is His children. Arrogance will bring me under His fatherly discipline. God gives grace"...but God gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5 (NIV) We sometimes use the expression, "Money makes money." You have to have some before you can make some. Well, it's the same principle here. Humility is a grace that attracts more grace. Pride closes the door to spiritual growth. But humility opens the door of your life to more of God's grace. To the humble, God gives patience, and peace, and gentleness. The fruit of the Spirit grows in the soul of humility. Humility is the key to spiritual growth: "God gives grace to the humble." God will lift you up"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:6 (NIV) This is a marvelous promise. God leads each of us on a path that has many twists and turns. When you are faced with surprises, disappointments, and upsets that God allows in your life, humble yourself. Accept what He allows. If you do that God will lift you up. God cares for you"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) This is one sentence with v6: "Humble yourselves... casting all your anxieties on Him for He cares for you." The proud person feels that he or she has to make things happen. The root of all worry lies in the idea that what happens is ultimately in my hands. If you think that what happens is ultimately in your hands, that's pride. None of us can add an inch to our height or an hour to our life by worrying about it. What happens is finally in the hands of God. There is a powerful insight here. If I want to deal with my anxiety, I have to start by dealing with my pride. Humility is the ultimate release from anxiety. Pride says, "What happens is up to me," and that leaves me anxious. Humility says, "Lord, everything that concerns me is in your hand," and that is the beginning of peace.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
What Trials Show About Your Faith
What Trials Show About Your Faith
By Colin Smith
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6,7 (NIV) If you have something that might be of great value, you want to know if it is authentic, and you will seize any opportunity to prove it. This is why the Antiques Road Show has been such an outstanding success. The experts arrive in a city and people bring their antiques. They have one question: "What is this worth?" And they seize the opportunity to find out. "I think this might be a Ming vase. Could you tell me if it is authentic?" Your faith is of far more value than a Ming vase or a Rembrandt painting. Your faith is "of greater worth than gold." (v6) Gold, like every other created thing, will eventually perish. But your faith, if it's genuine, will last for eternity. The question is: How do you know that it is genuine? How do you know that it is not a passing phase? Peter tells us "When you suffer grief in all kinds of trials..."
1 Peter 1:6 (NIV) When you suffer you will have all the evidence you need that your faith is authentic. Here's why: If your faith were just a human decision or a passing phase, then as soon as you began to suffer, you would renounce your faith. You would turn away from God and spend the rest of your life saying, "I can no longer believe in God." Or you would smolder away in bitterness and resentment against Him. You must know people like that. The big question is: "Why isn't everybody like that?" Why is it that there are people hearing this who struggle with unanswered questions, disappointed hopes and dreams, lost loved ones and lost jobs, have suffered illness, or violence or some other personal catastrophe... and yet they still believe! They still love Christ! There's only one explanation"These have come so that your faith... may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) "Your faith is a miracle! It is a living seed of the life of God planted in you. It is like a bulb in the ground that is buried in the dirt, but it does not die! You have gone through all these trials. You have faced all these unanswered questions. You cannot see Him and you cannot work out what He is doing. Yet, "You love Him. You believe in Him." (v8) There can be no greater evidence of the authenticity of your faith than that. And just so you know, that faith which has been proved genuine will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. One day He is going to wipe every tear from your eyes, and you will hear His voice saying to you: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your Master's happiness."
By Colin Smith
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6,7 (NIV) If you have something that might be of great value, you want to know if it is authentic, and you will seize any opportunity to prove it. This is why the Antiques Road Show has been such an outstanding success. The experts arrive in a city and people bring their antiques. They have one question: "What is this worth?" And they seize the opportunity to find out. "I think this might be a Ming vase. Could you tell me if it is authentic?" Your faith is of far more value than a Ming vase or a Rembrandt painting. Your faith is "of greater worth than gold." (v6) Gold, like every other created thing, will eventually perish. But your faith, if it's genuine, will last for eternity. The question is: How do you know that it is genuine? How do you know that it is not a passing phase? Peter tells us "When you suffer grief in all kinds of trials..."
1 Peter 1:6 (NIV) When you suffer you will have all the evidence you need that your faith is authentic. Here's why: If your faith were just a human decision or a passing phase, then as soon as you began to suffer, you would renounce your faith. You would turn away from God and spend the rest of your life saying, "I can no longer believe in God." Or you would smolder away in bitterness and resentment against Him. You must know people like that. The big question is: "Why isn't everybody like that?" Why is it that there are people hearing this who struggle with unanswered questions, disappointed hopes and dreams, lost loved ones and lost jobs, have suffered illness, or violence or some other personal catastrophe... and yet they still believe! They still love Christ! There's only one explanation"These have come so that your faith... may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) "Your faith is a miracle! It is a living seed of the life of God planted in you. It is like a bulb in the ground that is buried in the dirt, but it does not die! You have gone through all these trials. You have faced all these unanswered questions. You cannot see Him and you cannot work out what He is doing. Yet, "You love Him. You believe in Him." (v8) There can be no greater evidence of the authenticity of your faith than that. And just so you know, that faith which has been proved genuine will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. One day He is going to wipe every tear from your eyes, and you will hear His voice saying to you: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your Master's happiness."
Friday, October 2, 2009
Urgent Request from VOM
From VOM:
Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, were arrested and sent to Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. The two women did not rob a bank, kill a man or beat up someone.
Their crime? Loving Jesus. And it is for this reason alone they are still imprisoned.
In August during a court hearing, the two were questioned repeatedly about their faith. They were told to return to Islam.
"We love Jesus," was their reply. Prosecutors asked the women, who had already spent five months in prison, if they regretted being Christians.
"We have no regrets," they said. "We will not deny our faith."
The judge sent them back to Evin Prison - notorious for its brutality - to "think about" their decision.
"We have already done our thinking," they told him.
Maryam and Marzieh are among dozens of Iranian Christians arrested, detained or interrogated in Iran in recent months. The harassment is the radical Islamic government's response to an Iranian revival that has thousands of Iranians coming to Christ each month.
The Voice of the Martyrs helps the Iranian church in many ways, including supporting gospel television broadcasts transmitted into Iran and printing Christian literature for distribution inside the country.
Their crime? Loving Jesus. And it is for this reason alone they are still imprisoned.
In August during a court hearing, the two were questioned repeatedly about their faith. They were told to return to Islam.
"We love Jesus," was their reply. Prosecutors asked the women, who had already spent five months in prison, if they regretted being Christians.
"We have no regrets," they said. "We will not deny our faith."
The judge sent them back to Evin Prison - notorious for its brutality - to "think about" their decision.
"We have already done our thinking," they told him.
Maryam and Marzieh are among dozens of Iranian Christians arrested, detained or interrogated in Iran in recent months. The harassment is the radical Islamic government's response to an Iranian revival that has thousands of Iranians coming to Christ each month.
The Voice of the Martyrs helps the Iranian church in many ways, including supporting gospel television broadcasts transmitted into Iran and printing Christian literature for distribution inside the country.
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