News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

---BIBLE -

I am a Christian because God says so, and I did what he told me to do, and I stand on God's Word, and if the Book goes down, I'll go with it. ~

---Billy Sunday

The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.

---D. L. Moody

The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.

--Martin Luther

Borrowed beliefs have no power.

--James Black

It is better to pray over the Bible than to brood over the self.

--P.T. Forsyth --

Scripture --

"To hear the voice of God in Holy Scripture oneself, and to help others to hear it, is a worthy cause to which to devote one's resources. To be commissioned to this cause is a sacred trust, not to be undertaken lightly, not to be refused irresponsibly, but to be fulfilled thankfully."

---F F Bruce
~~~

"Most people are bothered by those Scripture passages which they cannot understand. But for me, the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."

---Mark Twain
~~~
"If someone considers the prophetic writings with all the diligence and reverence they are worth, while he reads and examines with great care, it is certain that in that very act he will be struck in his mind and senses by some more divine breath and will recognize that the books he reads have not been produced in a human way, but are words of God."

---Origen

Second Coming ~

"I wish I could be alive when Christ returns because I would like to be the first earthly monarch to take my crown and lay it at His feet."

---Elizabeth I of England --

"If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society, He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments."

---Zig Ziglar -

Bible Study ~
By:D.L. Moody -

"I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come.

One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, "Now faith cometh by hearing , and hearing by the Word of God."

I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since. "

Salvation ~

"You can become a Christian by going to church just about as easily as you can become an automobile by sleeping in a garage."

---Vance Havner

'If we or the world could be saved through human kindness or clear thinking, Jesus either would have formed a sensitivity group and urged us to share our feelings or would have founded a school and asked us to have discussions.

But knowing the ways of God, the way of the world, and the persistence of human sin, He gook up the cross, called disciples, gathered the church, and bade us follow Him down a different path of freedom.'

---William H. Willimon --

Regarding: Hell

"Hell is the highest reward that the devil can offer you for being a servant of his."

--Billy Sunday

~~~~~
Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?

Priest: "No, not if you did not know."

Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?" -

By: Annie Dillard

-- --JESUS ~

-"There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus."

---Blaise Paschal

"The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ."

---Oswald Chambers

To See The Majesty Of His Universe.. (((( Smiles ))))
And To Hear The Wonderfulness Of His Mighty Words..

"Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people."
Quote from Helen Keller

And if anyone would know this, she would.
But not just in the way of how hard things were for her, but in a spiritual sense as well.
We can learn alot from the expirences of people with disabilities in this world.
In how totally amazing the gift of seeing and hearing really is.
The things we take for granted in this life they call to mind.
Nobody could truly put a price tag on that.
The Gift of Life itself.
What a Gift Indeed!

Thank you, Lynn. Yes, that is so true. We do take so much for granted in this short life we live. My dear Mother was deaf, yet she always seemed to keep a smile and and up-beat in life.
~~~~~
"The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of especial revelation from God."
~~~
"It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and independence forever."

--Both quotes by: Daniel Webster

Church ~~

"Church isn't where you meet. Church isn't a building. Church is what you do. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the Person of Jesus Christ.

Let's not go to church, let's be the church."

--Bridget Willard -

SERVICE ~

'Teach us, Lord, to serve you as You deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do Your will.'

--Ignatius Loyola

~~~~~~~~~~
'Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him.'

--Oswald Chambers

--------
Spirituality ~~

'Spirituality is a slippery term, but the phenomenon itself is not new. Christian spirituality is nothing other than life in Christ by the presence and power of the Spirit: being conformed to the person of Christ, and being united in communion with God and with others.

Spirituality is not an aspect of Christian life, IT IS the Christian life. ~~ --JESUS IS THE WORD! (John 1:1)

--Michael Downey ----JESUS IS LORD and Saviour!----

--Devotion ~~

'Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our calling that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory.'

---John Donne

'If life is to have meaning, and if God's will is to be done, all of us have to accept who we are and what we are, give it back to God, and thank him for the way He made us. What I am is God's gift to me; what I do with it is my gift to him.'

---Warren W. Wiersbe

Are you ready for the Greatest Event of all the ages?

----
The Greatest Event of All the Ages
Devotional thought from the messages of Adrian Rogers

BIBLE MEDITATION:
Revelation 17:14 - "...and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
The Second Coming of Jesus is going to be the greatest event of all of the ages. It is one of the grand theological truths taught in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The new birth is vitally important, but it is mentioned only nine times in the New Testament. Baptism is vitally important, but it is mentioned only 20 times in the New Testament. Repentance is mentioned only 70 times in the Bible, as important and needful as that is.

But the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in God's Word at least 380 times. One out of every 25 verses points with an eager finger to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:
How are you getting ready for His Second Coming? What if He came this very hour?
______________________________________

Off the Defense and Onto the Offense
Devotional thought from the messages of Adrian Rogers

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Mark 16:15 - "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." -

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If I had to identify a major problem with believers today, it would be that they spend too much time getting out of trouble with God instead of getting into righteousness!

We are living on the defensive instead of the offensive. We need to move beyond the defensive line of Christianity and move on to the offense, advancing the Kingdom, fulfilling the Great Commission, and telling others about Jesus.

Our Shepherd will never lead us where His strength cannot keep us. He will never lead us down a path that He hasn't first walked down Himself.

ACTION POINT:

Are you sharing His love and words of salvation with someone who's lost? If not, begin today to move beyond your comfort zone and see the hand of God move.
--
______________________________________

DEVOTIONAL: Adrian Rogers ~

----
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"-- Luke 2:8-14

You know, to be a shepherd in biblical times was not a great job. It was tough! There were cold nights, low wages, and separation from family and friends as they kept watch over those flocks. And because these flocks were near Bethlehem, many Bible scholars believe that these were the sheep raised for temple sacrifices.

And so it was to these shepherds that angels came and announced the birth of the Messiah!

I want you to think with me about the humble circumstances of this announcement. On that very first Christmas, a multitude of heavenly angels sang and were heard by lowly shepherds. What a contrast! On the one hand, we have the heavens resplendent with the glory of God-these beautiful angels singing-and yet on the ground, simple shepherds smelling of sheep.

Isn't it interesting how heaven so often touches earth in the
most simple of circumstances? I don't know about you, but in the ordinary things of life, God speaks to me. In the beauty of a child's face or in the glory of a sunrise or a sunset, we can realize that heaven is near and God's message is close. God speaks to us in the midst of our busy lives if we'll just listen.

GOD DOES EXTRAORDINARY THINGS IN THE ORDINARY SITUATIONS OF LIFE. BE READY TO HEAR HIM AT ALL TIMES!

Have a Merry Christmas and healthy prosperous New Year 2011!
Allow the LORD JESUS to speak to you. Are you listening? He is speaking all around us.

Thank you Russ, Laura, and Herb Allure for this forum!

--Father's Love, Sacrifice
By: Adrian Uieleman ~

A boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon, when a bumblebee flew in the car window. The little boy, who was allergic to bee stings, was petrified! The father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it.

The boy grew frantic as it buzzed by him. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his palm. There stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee.
"Do you see this?" he asked. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you."

We do not need to fear death anymore. Christ has died and risen again. He has taken the sting from death.
--

Best-Selling Book, The Holy Bible

"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." (2Corinthians 2:17)
-
With over 400 translations available and written in more than 2,000 languages, the Christian Bible remains the "best-selling book of all time." Best-selling authors make money with each copy they sell. The Bible is the only book to turn that upside down: God doesn't grow "richer" as more Bibles are sold, but its readers sure do!

Perhaps with the plethora of award-winning books, book promotions, book signings, books turned into movies, etc. that exists today, we have grown jaded about the value of the very Word of God which we hold in our hands. Some in this world even now face imprisonment or death for owning a Bible, while you and I can count numerous copies of it on the shelves of our homes.

The power of the Word of God and the Living Word, Jesus Christ, are worth more than any earthly award. No publicist or agent is needed for the Bible; His Word goes out to the nations. And as for being signed by the author, we have the signature of Christ's life, written in blood, saving your soul and mine.
--
"Of the making of books, there is no end" (Ecclesiastes 12:12). But no book will ever compare to the Bible, inspired by God Himself.
--

Evidence of the Resurrection
Taken from a message by: Adrian Rogers

Jesus was not a divine man. He was not a human God. He was the God-man. Perfect humanity and perfect Deity.

How do we know Jesus was not just another wild-eyed fanatic? How do we know He was not just another religious teacher or some guru? I’ll tell you how we know – He walked out of that tomb!

You may say, How do we know he did that? That’s a good question. He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. Acts 1:3 says, "To whom also He [Jesus] showed himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."

People with good minds, far better than mine, have said that there is inescapable evidence that Jesus Christ came out of that grave, more evidence than that Julius Caesar ever lived. To say that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead is to fly in the face of sheer reason, apart from revelation. He arose. He came out of that grave.- JESUS IS ALIVE! JESUS SAVES!-

-Neglect/ (Error, Truth)

'The untended garden will soon be overrun with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out error will shortly be a theological wilderness.

--A. W. Tozer

-GREAT IS
YOUR REWARD ~~

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
--
Your Father who sees
in secret will Himself
reward you openly.
--Matthew 6:4
---
God has a reward program. Jesus often spoke of His desire to reward us for loyally serving Him. When we are persecuted for His sake, for example, He says to "rejoice...for great is your reward in heaven" (Matt. 5:12). In contrast to The Pharisees' pious habit of giving, praying, and fasting in public, Jesus instructed us to do these things privately, because "your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (6:4,6,18). When it comes to living for Jesus, faithfulness never ultimately puts your life in a deficit position, regardless of what it costs.

But we don't serve Jesus for the rewards. When He died for us on the cross, He did far more for us than we deserve. Loyalty to Him is an act of worship that expresses our loving gratitude for His love toward us. In return, He delights to encourage us with the assurance that ultimately His rewards will outweigh whatever we have given up for Him.

--Live for Jesus--regardless of the cost.
--
-WHAT IS DONE FOR CHRIST IN THIS LIFE
-WILL BE REWARDED IN THE LIFE TO COME.

-WHEN JESUS SPEAKS --
-Luke 11:37-12:3

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, (desperately wicked). Who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.'"
---(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

-Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to follow Jesus while He walked this earth--hearing Him teach with parables, seeing Him bless children, confront Pharisees, and do miracles? I think if we had been there we would have found it hard to listen at times because He always spoke the truth about the condition of the human heart. In this Luke 11 passage Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their hypocrisy. They were upset that He hadn't washed His hands before eating (a law they had made part of God's law). So He challenged them: "You're all upset about my hands not being clean, but what about your hearts? Look how filthy they are!"

Jesus never backed down from the hard-core issues of our hearts: jealousy, lust, greed, lying, pride, unfaithfulness. He knew it was out of our hearts that our actions and words flow, and He constantly calls us to holy living--being so transformed by Him on our inside that we reflect Him differently on the outside.

Ask yourself every day, How is my heart doing?
---
Are we listening to God and responding honestly to what we hear Him say? If so, it will show through our heart transformation. Amazing!

--Haven Today

-Safe by Keeping the Law?

-BIBLE MEDITATION:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Suppose you're driving down the road and a police officer stops you for running a red light. And you say to the officer, "I ran a red light, but you have no right to give me a ticket because I stopped at all the other streets and I have obeyed the speed limit."

He responds, "Don't tell me about all the things that you've done good. You've broken the law."

If you think you're going to be saved by keeping the law, then you must keep all of it, because God demands perfection. No amount of obedience can make up for one act of disobedience. If you keep the whole law and yet offend in one point you are guilty of it all.

-ACTION POINT:
(Read Romans 7:1 to 8:4). Can you relate to Paul's quandary about keeping the law and the war within his members concerning its requirement of absolute obedience?
-----
So what do I do now? If you have not yet asked Jesus to come into your heart, please do it today, don't wait, you may not be here tomorrow.

-Romans 10: 9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
"For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (NASB)

-The Wake-Up Call

-BIBLE MEDITATION:

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Romans 13:11

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Do you know what Napoleon said about China? "There lies a sleeping giant, and let him sleep, because if he awakens, he will shake the world."

I believe the devil says that about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe the church is just that: a sleeping giant. We're asleep because we have been chloroformed by the spirit of this age.

We're bombarded on every side by all kinds of amusement. Do you know what amuse means? It's a combination of two words. Muse means to think, and the alpha prefix in front of it means "not to." We are a generation that is amusing ourselves into oblivion. And it's time to wake up!

-ACTION POINT:
Are you taking the Christian life seriously? If this were your last day on earth, how would you spend it? In amusement? Or in evangelism?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me..." JESUS
--Matthew 11:28-29

--HOW WERE PEOPLE SAVED BEFORE CHRIST?
-[This is lengthy, yet most informative.]

--The “exclusivity” of Christianity is a stumbling block for many skeptics. How can Jesus be the only way to Heaven? A claim such as this seems arrogant and intolerant in the pluralistic world in which we live. How can Christians believe millions of devout people from other religious traditions will be condemned just because they don’t know Jesus? Several years ago I received an email from a podcast listener who told me he believed all “good” people would eventually be “saved” just like the Old Testament saints. After all, the Bible acknowledges the salvation of devout Old Testament believers even though they lived and died long before Jesus walked on earth. If Old Testament saints can go to Heaven without knowing or trusting Jesus, why can’t people today get to Heaven by simply obeying the Ten Commandments?

If only that were the case. Unfortunately, the Old Testament saints were just as incapable of following the Ten Commandments as we are today.
God provided them with the Law and recognized they would constantly break it. For this reason, He also provided them with an elaborate sacrificial system (to remind them of their shortcomings and the penalty for their continuing sin) and the promise of a Savior. Like us, the Old Testament saints were not saved by their adherence to the Law. They were saved by the grace of God through their faith in the Savior, even though this Savior was only a promise at the time.

-They Knew About Grace~
These early believers listened closely to the words of God as they were revealed by the prophets and the Scripture. As a result, they understood the nature of grace. David, for example, wrote about God’s forgiveness and grace (Psalm 32:1-5) and Paul later told us that David understood that “God reckons righteousness apart from works” (Romans 4:6-8). All the Old Testament heroes of faith recognized their good works could not save them (read Hebrews 11:13). Even Isaiah knew his “goodness” wasn’t “good enough” (Isaiah 64:6) and that animal sacrifices weren’t going to ultimately please a Holy and perfect God (Psalm 40:6).

--They Knew a Messiah was Coming
With the limited knowledge of God given to them at the time, the Old Testament saints understood God would have to do something dramatic to save them. They placed their faith in the coming Savior who was described from the earliest of times. God told Adam and Eve one of their descendants would eventually defeat Satan (Genesis 3:15), and Abraham understood God would provide a sacrifice for sin, just as God provided the substitutionary sacrifice to replace Isaac (Genesis 22:8, Romans 4:3 John 8:56). Job had a similar expectation and hope for a Redeemer (Job 19:25-26), and Moses also expected and believed in the coming Messiah and the reward of Salvation (Hebrews 11:26, John 5:46). Many other Old Testament prophets and wise men spoke about the coming Savior. Enoch, for example, even talked about the second coming of the Messiah (Jude 14)! Old Testament prophets clearly described where the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2), how He would be betrayed (Zechariah 11:12), how He would die (Isaiah 53:5), and how He would be resurrected (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 26:19).~~
[Please go to the website listed below for more information regarding the Bible and the Messiah, Jesus Christ.]
<http://coldcasechristianity.com/?s=How+Were+People+Saved+Before+Christ%3F>
<http://coldcasechristianity.com/>

-- NOT MANY WISE MEN ~~~

“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” (1 Corinthians 1:26)

For the most part, the rich and famous of this world, the wise and powerful, have always looked down on the followers of Christ and the Scriptures. This seems increasingly true today, and many believers have been led to compromise as a result. Rather than being discouraged by the intellectual snobbery of educated and powerful unbelievers, however, we should rejoice in this further proof of the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

This passage is, in fact, a remarkably fulfilled prophecy, true for almost 2,000 years. Christians have founded great universities to train people in God’s truth, only to see them taken over, one after another, by the ungodly leaders of this present world. Missionaries have carried the gospel to heathen lands, only to be superseded by wealth-seeking materialists who exploit and subvert their converts.

Paul did not say “not any,” of course, but “not many.” God always has raised up a few brilliant or powerful men (such as Paul himself) who have devoted their abilities and influence to the Lord and His Word, but these have always been the exception. There have been a few godly kings and generals, a few Christ-honoring artists and musicians of great talent, but they are far outnumbered by the others.

But we must remember that God said long ago that was the way it would be..,
“God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

--ICR/HMM

--A HEALTHY BODY~~

---(Please Read/ 1 Corinthians 6:19)
'Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
'For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

[If you are a Christian, or claim to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you (should) have accepted His death on the Cross for the forgiveness of your sins. That is precisely 'why' He did die. "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." -[See Romans 10:9-10)
------------
--[Pastor Charles Stanley's Message~]
--Take a good, long look at yourself. What is your attitude about your body? How concerned are you with healthy eating and regular exercise? These are important questions that many believers never ask themselves. In fact, some may separate the spiritual life from the physical life altogether. However, this is not the view that the Lord intended.

God, who carefully crafted every one of us, places a high value on our bodies (Ps. 139:13). The human form represents the masterpiece of Creation, and God entrusted our bodies to our care. Just as with any other resource—such as relationships or money—the Father expects wise stewardship from us.

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians provides a clear picture of followers of Christ mistreating their bodies. Many people in the church had been engaging in various unacceptable practices, including gluttony and sexual misconduct (1 Cor. 5:1; 1 Cor. 11:21). Because of their low view of the physical body, they incorrectly regarded this behavior as completely separate from their spiritual life. They believed they could do anything they wanted with their bodies and still be considered “good Christians.”

In verse 16 of chapter 3, Paul declares, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 16:3). The apostle reminds us God’s Holy Spirit has come to live in the heart and life of every believer.

If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then He has taken up residence in your life. In effect, your body has become a walking testimony. What is your body saying about your relationship with the heavenly Father?~~
['The Body Is the Lord's'--(See 1 Corinthians 6:12-20)~]
--IN TOUCH

--HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE~~

“I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts.” -
--(Psalm 119:100_

People sometimes can’t understand why they don’t understand the Bible. Well, the way to understand the Bible is to obey the Bible. And the way to understand the verses you don't understand is to obey the verses you do understand.

“More than the ancients” is a way of saying the accumulative wisdom of the ages. David is saying, “ I haven't been off to the university perhaps, or I haven't studied abroad, but I keep God's Word and therefore God reveals to me His truth.”

The only way you can really understand the Bible is for God to reveal it to you, and God doesn't reveal it to rebels.

Keep God's Word, and through it God will reveal His truth. Some of you know what God wants you to do, but you're not doing it. And you wonder why you've come up against a roadblock when you try to read the Bible.
--Adrian Rogers~~
["Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." // Memorize scripture verses. The Holy Spirit will bring these verses to your mind when you need them the most while on this earthly pilgrimage.]

--THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES~~
----[Please Read/ Philippians 2:5-11]

--In Bible times, naming a child was a major event for a Hebrew family. The household took great pains in selecting a name, sometimes choosing one that had personal meaning for the parents. An example of this is Leah—she chose to call her fourth child Judah, saying, “This time I will praise the Lord” (Gen. 29:35). Occasionally, a perceived or desired personality trait would determine what a baby was called. Genesis 25:26 shows this to be the case with Jacob (“one who supplants”).

Frequently, the name given at birth would symbolize to others who that person was. In the ancient world, this was intentional. Even today people subconsciously associate character traits and experiences with names. We all hope that when others hear ours called, they will have good things come to mind rather than a sense of dread!

-Mary and Joseph had a far different experience from that of other Jewish parents. Instead of choosing the name themselves, an angel told them what their child would be called (Matt. 1:21). The heavenly Father selected His Son’s earthly name to represent His purpose in coming. A day will come when the very mention of Jesus will cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2:10).

-The Hebrew form of Jesus means “salvation” or “He saves.” Christ is called many things throughout Scripture: Lord, Immanuel, Teacher, Messiah, etc. But His given name tells His story. He came to save the world from sin. No wonder God gave Him a name above all names!

--In Touch~~/Charles Stanley~~
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy5IeR85G6o>

--CARRY YOUR NAME~~
--Christy Nockles~

---Called Before Birth--

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him.” (Galatians 1:15-16)

There is great mystery here. Paul was the human writer of much of the New Testament, yet he also claimed divine inspiration. “I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12).

It was only a short time before, however, that Paul had been bitterly opposing that gospel. “Beyond measure,” he said, “I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Galatians 1:13). Eventually, he was converted and began to preach “the faith which once he destroyed” (Galatians 1:23). Yet, during all his years of fighting God’s truth, he had already been separated unto God and called by His grace even before he was born, as our text reveals. His teachers in the synagogue, his studies under Gamaliel, and even his anti-Christian crusades were all being orchestrated by God to develop Paul into the unique person he would be, the great Christian whom God could use to write much of His own written Word. Paul’s epistles were thus truly his epistles, derived from his own experience, research, study, reasoning, and concerns. At the same time, they came out as God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, free from error and perfectly conveyed from God to man, because God had Himself ordained and planned all Paul’s experiences and abilities and had implanted all these concerns in his heart.

And so it was with all the human writers of the Bible. God’s Word (like Christ Himself) is both human and divine, yet meeting all our needs. This is mysterious indeed, but well within the capabilities of our omnipotent and gracious Creator.
--ICR/HMM / Christy Nockels / Carry Your Name~
<https://youtu.be/66N6PZvjhA4>
----------

-JESUS WANTS TO HELP YOU, ASK HIM FOR HIS WISDOM~~

--Jesus speaks to us through His Word, the Holy Bible. We ask, pray, and sometimes get frustrated if we still don't know what to do. May I suggest getting a "God's Promises" book to keep handy. Most Christian Book stores have these handy tools to stay on the path with our Lord and Savior. They come in paper-backing, so easily available if you want to have one in your purse or maybe desk top.
Jesus tells us through James, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." (James 4:8)~~ ----

"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you."
--(John 14:18)

Our Lord and Savior died a brutal painful death on the Cross to save us from living apart from Him when He comes to judge the earth, the End Times. We see these days are fast approaching. He also tells us, "BE READY, NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR HOUR THE SON OF MAN WILL RETURN." (Matthew 24:42)
----------

---WISDOM FOR THE ASKING~~

"My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you."
--(Proverbs 3:21-22 NIV)

Perhaps, like many of us, you have chosen a pathway that, at the end of a lot of time and energy, did not lead to the happy outcome you had anticipated. We didn’t see that when we first decided to walk that way. I don’t think rational people think, “I’m going to do this. It will be painful and cost me lots of money, and in a few years I will be filled with regret. Let’s go!”

Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between good and evil, and each of us will learn some lessons the hard way, by experience. But there are some things you can do to avoid mistakes. Work to obtain wisdom and understanding. Seek out friends who have more God-experience than you do, and listen to their advice. Read Scripture, and ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to its meaning and application to your life. Wisdom is there for the asking, so let’s ask!

--PRAYER~~~
Heavenly Father, I need Your help to distinguish between good and evil. Thank You for Your Word that gives light to my path. Surround me with people who help me to make decisions that will honor You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

~~Blessings,
---Pastor Allen Jackson
--Intend Ministries
-------------

---WALK BY FAITH ~~

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
-----
Although today’s verse appears in parentheses in the King James Bible, it is a most important concept in Scripture and is the summary of an extensive passage that precedes it. Beginning with 2 Corinthians 4:8, Paul continually contrasts the seen and the unseen, finishing up with the admonition to “walk by faith.”

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8-9). Though we have trials on the outside, through faith we have inward triumph.

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus . . .. that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (vv. 10-11). Even though “death worketh in us,” that same persecution results in “life in you” (v. 12). Through faith we know “that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus” (v. 14).

“Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (vv. 16-17).

“If our earthly house [i.e., body] of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (5:1) “that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (v. 4). The death and decay of this life will ultimately be eradicated. We know this to be fact, for He “hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (v. 5) as a guarantee of our resurrection, if indeed we have been born again by faith, the same faith by which we walk.

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
--ICR/JDM -"What Faith Can Do" -- Kutless~~ <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NreUhPk9s9Y>
--------

----PEACE and TRUST~~

-"Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give
you. I do not give to
you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts
be troubled and do not
be afraid."
--(John 14:27)

--When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you" (ISA 26:3).

The peace our Savior gives us as we turn to Him "transcends all understanding" (PHIL. 4:7). I will never forget the words of a woman who was struggling with breast cancer. After a group from our church prayed for her one evening, she said, "I don't know what will happen, but I know that I'll be okay, because the Lord was here with us tonight."

-Life will have its difficulties, but our Savior, who loves us more than life, is greater than them all. ~~

"Lord, help me to trust in You so that I may live in peace."

-----JESUS IS OUR PEACE!
--ODB/JB---'Great Are You Lord'--/ Casting Crowns~<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqV6i98SkA>
-------

--OUT OF CONTEXT~~

"She turned around
and saw Jesus standing
there, but she did not
realize that it was
Jesus."-(John 20:14)~-

--As I queued up to board my flight, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned and received a warm greeting. "Elisa! Do you remember me? It's Joan!" My mind flipped through various "Joans" I'd known, but I couldn't place her. Was she a previous neighbor? A past coworker? Oh dear...I didn't know.

Sensing my struggle, Joan responded, "Elisa, we knew each other in high school." A memory rose: Friday night football games, cheering from the stands. Once the context was clarified, I recognized Joan.

After Jesus's death, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning and found the stone rolled away and His body gone (JOHN 20:1-2). She ran to get Peter and John, who returned with her to find the tomb empty (VV.3-10). But Mary lingered outside in her grief (V.11). When Jesus appeared there, "she did not realize that it was Jesus" (V.14), thinking He was the gardener (V.15).

How could she have not recognized Jesus? Was His resurrected body so changed that it was difficult to recognize Him? Did her grief blind her to His identity? Or, perhaps, like me, was it because Jesus was "out of context," alive in the garden instead of dead in the tomb, that she didn't recognize Him?

How might we too miss Jesus when He comes into our days--during prayer or Bible reading, or by simply whispering in our hearts? ~~
--ODB/EM~~
---EXPECT JESUS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES~~
--JESUS IS AS CLOSE AS THE MENTION OF HIS NAME.~~
-"Dear God, give us eyes to see Jesus, however He comes--in a familiar context or surprising us in an unexpected one. Thank you, in Jesus Name. "

--PUT GOD FIRST THIS YEAR~~Motivation for 2019
--'You are loved with an everlasting love and underneath are His everlasting arms. JESUS LOVES YOU! The CREATOR of the Universe wants to be Head of your life. GOD's GRACE OFFERS US A FRESH START.



-------------

--HONESTY IN PRAYER ~~

---The Psalmist wrote, "Before a word is on my tongue You, LORD, know it completely."
--(Psalm 139:4 / NIV)--

--WHEN I STOP to think about it, one of my favorite Psalms can also feel a bit scary. In Psalm 139, David talks about how God sees everything and is everywhere. God sees us when we wake up and when we're going from here to there. And then David says this: "Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely." God knows everything I'm thinking and everything I'm going to say! Isn't that a beautiful and awesome thing to know?

Even though God knows all the unspoken words within us, sometimes it's hard to decide how we should talk to God when we pray. At times I have prayed what I thought I should pray or what I thought God wanted to hear rather than what I was actually feeling and wanting to say. I would tell God that I was thankful when I was actually upset, or that I was grateful for God's peace when I didn't feel any peace.

Thinking about my own prayers, I realize that I often hold back something from God because it feels like something selfish. But the Bible tells us that our Father loves to hear our request. So I've resolved to be honest and say the words I need to say. For example= "Lord, I'm tired, and I feel like I'm in over my head at work." "Jesus, I'm restless. I'm struggling with anxiety. I need Your peace." Nothing is too big or too small to share with God. He is our Father. He loves to hear from us, His children. ~~

-"Lord God, help us not to be afraid to be open and honest when we talk to You, holding nothing back. You already know all of our thoughts and intents of our hearts. Thank You, Jesus, that You understand us because You became flesh, and dwelt among us. We give you praise. ~Amen~ "

--UPPER ROOM~ --"Listen To Our Hearts" / Casting Crowns / <https://youtu.be/LxqHo2Pvfm0>
------

---"COME~"

~~'Jesus said, "Come." Then Peter got out of the boat and was walking on the water toward Jesus.'
---(Matthew 14:29 / CEB)

--THEY'RE MY favorite socks: blue, gray, and black, with a little bit of writing on the bottom. They're warm, wooly, and I always search for them on each first cold day of the year. You can't really see the most significant thing about them unless I take off my shoes and show you the bottoms of my feet. But there, on each sock, is a bluish puddle labeled the Sea of Galilee. My friend Edward bought them for me on a trip to Israel, a fine souvenir.

"You gave them to me because I can walk on water?" I suggested.
"Because I thought you'd like them," he said.

I don't walk on water. Don't even come close. If Jesus asked me, as He asked Peter to step out of the boat and walk with Him on the Sea of Galilee, I would surely sink at the first step, faltering in my faith, not even hearing Him call out, "Be encouraged! It's me" (Matthew 14:27/ CEB). And yet I love having something on my feet to remind me, even so subtly, to walk in Jesus's footsteps. And I begin to think, "HalleluJAH"/ 'Praise the LORD.'

That cashier who was so rude to me, couldn't I have been a little nicer to her? That guy who cut me off as I tried to move into the right lane on the highway, did I really need to shout at him from behind the wheel of my car? That sympathy note I've been meaning to write, the get-well card... it's time to get to them tonight.

Most important, the fears that prevent me from trust, why not give them up? It's time to "Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not unto my own understanding" [Proverbs 3:5 thru 6]

I'm wearing my favorite socks today," I tell Edward at the office.
"Glad you like them," he says. "Nice to feel like a disciple, with the Sea of Galilee at your feet."

----DAILY GUIDEPOSTS~~--"Hallelujah Here Below"/ Elevation Worship //<https://youtu.be/dtCdNfr_R6I>
~~~~~~~~~~

---ROOM FOR GOD?

"Here I am! I stand at
the door and knock."
--(Revelation 3:20)--

~~~Some of the saddest words on earth are: "We don't have room for you."

Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary's womb when the Innkeeper said, "We don't have room for you."....

And when he was hung on the Cross , wasn't the message one of utter rejection? "We don't have room for you in this world."

Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if He might enter.....

Every so often, He is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites Him to stay. And to the person Jesus gives this great promise:..."In my Father's house are many rooms [mansions]."

What a delightful promise: He makes us! We make room for Him in our hearts, and He makes room for us in His house. Wow! What a fantastic Promise! Give Him PRAISE!

--'Grace For the Moment/ML~~--"Let the Worshippers Arise" // Phillips, Craig, and Dean //<https://youtu.be/Tr3iSbytgDU>
~~~~~~~~~

--JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD~~

--"IN THE BEGINNING was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" --[JOHN 1:1]

--"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." --[JOHN 1:14]

--"For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." --[Hebrews 4:12]

--"He [Jesus] was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God." --[Revelation 19:13]


----Heart Of Worship// <https://youtu.be/b0vgJrka3no>
~~~~~~~~

---MYSTERIOUS WAYS ~~

--MORE THAN COINCIDENCE~~

--My husband, Russ, and I drove through our neighborhood, the place we'd called home for 28 years. The Sierra Nevada foothills, once thick with towering pines, were unrecognizable. The ground was covered with a heavy layer of ash. The trees that remained were charred stumps.

Two weeks earlier, we'd gotten an early-morning call telling us to evacuate immediately . The wildfire tearing through Northern California had spread and was headed our way.

We'd jumped in the car with our cats and few belongings. For days, we'd bounced from hotel to hotel, desperate for new. What finally came wasn't good. Our house had been right in the fire's path.

Now we'd been given permission to return. Russ and I brought shovels, work booths, N95 masks and gloves. We'd salvage anything we could

We drove slowly through the desolation, where chimneys marked where homes homes once stood. I wasn't prepared for wasn't prepared for what awaited us. Our house was nothing but rubble. Mementos, photos, heirlooms, my precious collection of inspirational books--all gone.

I wiped tears as we dug through the ash debris. We uncovered a cast-iron coat tree that used to stand in our foyer A decorative dish our son had given me, blackened but whole. Bits and pieces of our life.

'Lord, how will we survive this? How will we go on? I wondered. I felt as if our live had been wiped out.
We called it quits in late afternoon. Russ loaded what we'd found in the car. The breeze picked up., swirling ash in the air. "Let's go," he said.

I turned to get in the car. That's when I noticed something stuck to my boot. A scrap of paper, smudged with soot. I picked it up. It's edges were singed, yet the words were surprising legible: "If life seems difficult, I pause and reflect on the blessing sometimes hidden within every circumstance. With renewed faith and courage, I begin again."

Word that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn''t recall but now said everything needed to hear. Words that rose from the ashes.
I framed that scrap of paper. I kept it on the nightstand in every hotel and motel we stayed in over the coming months. It now sits in a place of honor in our new home, a reminder that we can begin again.. .
"We know that all things work together for the good to those who love the Lord." -[Romas 8:28]

[u]--Guideposts/LK~ [u]

--Dear Friends,

Greetings in Jesus' Name.

--What are you thankful for today? Look around you at the many blessings that you have. Some of them may be obscure, like the sensitivity in your fingers that allows you to feel temperatures, textures and pressure. Other blessings may be more obvious -- family and friends are a tremendous blessing from God. - Everyone has something to be thankful for, regardless of where we are or who we are. No person is so destitute as to have nothing to be thankful for.

As Christians we have much to be thank for... We are blessed by knowing that we are loved by our Savior, Jesus. Many of us will gather with loved ones during the upcoming holidays. Hopefully, most of us will pause and verbally express our thankfulness.

While we enjoy our blessings, there will be many people who seem to go unnoticed--possibly even unloved. There are many homeless and poor around us. Many suffer daily from the loss of family and friends. How are we being a blessing to them? In Matthew 25, as Jesus was teaching about our service to Him, He told us that whatever we do unto the least of all, we do unto Him.

This year as we stop to consider our blessings, let's think about those who do not know our Lord Jesus. We have the opportunity to share with them every day, and the more we share, the more our cup will be filled.

Let's be sure to share the love and light of Jesus to a lost and dying world. --
Following the Shepherd. ,

--Still Waters Staff / BSW

---The Prosperity of the Ungodly

“Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” (Jeremiah 12:1) ---

One of the perennial theological problems is the apparent prosperity of the ungodly along with the suffering of the righteous. Why would God seem to endorse such a system?

It has been this way for ages. Some 2,000 or more years before Christ, Job asked essentially the same question as did the prophet Jeremiah in our text above. “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?...They spend their days in wealth, and...say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways” (Job 21:7, 13-14). Likewise, the psalmist Asaph complained, “I was envious.... when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3).

The real solution to this paradox is not in this present world but in the world to come, where hell awaits the ungodly and heaven awaits those whom God has redeemed through faith in Christ. The fact that a man may prosper materially is not necessarily a measure of God’s approval. The previous economic boom in this country made many men very wealthy, and most of them seem either indifferent or hostile to God, but their wealth is very ephemeral. As David said in another psalm, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not” (Psalm 37:35-36).

If God does give a few believers material wealth, it is so that they may use it for the Lord and for others, not to pamper themselves. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but...that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to [share]” (1 Timothy 6:17-18).
HMM

--Please share as the Lord leads. Many do not know the truth in this message.

---FAITH ISN'T COMPLICATED

---"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
---[Matthew 9:9 / [NIV] --

---Faith is not about acting religious, or going to a church building on the weekend, or following a set of rules. Faith is about a relationship with Jesus. When Jesus was on the earth and recruiting followers, He issued a very simple invitation over and over again—to rich and poor, healthy and lame, educated and uneducated: “Follow Me.” That’s the same invitation Jesus is extending today:
“Follow Me.” We can all follow Him—no matter where we’ve come from, no matter what we’ve been—we can choose to follow Jesus.

Faith isn’t complicated; it’s simply saying yes to God with the invitations that are before you today. So if He’s inviting you to a deeper relationship with Him, say yes! If He’s inviting you to trust Him with your future, your finances, or your family, say yes! There will never be another invitation that will change your life and your future like the ones you receive from Jesus. So no matter what He is inviting you to, say yes!

THINK ABOUT IT
Our responses to Jesus are significant. We want to take great care to not treat His invitations casually. Resolve in your heart today to always say yes to Jesus.

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, give me a yielded and understanding heart, and grant me the wisdom to walk in Your ways. May I always recognize Jesus’ invitations to me and be prepared to say yes without delay, confident in Your plan for my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
--WOC/AJ