We live in a time the Bible classifies as perilous times (2 Timothy 3:1). Terrorism is one factor that makes these days dangerous to live in. This hate religion is a fear based business. Believers in Jesus don’t have to be subject to a spirit of fear. You can overcome it. You can live in peace all your days. While your at it, you can turn the tables. You can terrorize the terrorist.
Sometimes alien thoughts buzz in people’s heads like bees hovering around a hive. Even people wishing to do God’s complete will get stunk with the question, “What if I married the wrong person. What should I do? How do I correct the mistake and get back into God’s will?” Let’s look at the all the hum coming from this question in this weeks podcast.
What was your most memorable vacation? How did you plan for it? Did you check out all the places you were traveling to before you went? Sharon and I just came back from one. We spent time getting to know some of the places we we would be seeing. It’s part of the fun of traveling. What about the place you travel to when you pray? What about the Throne of God? What do you know about God’s Throne? It is the place that everybody wants to go to when they hit heaven! How many plan pilgrimages to religious places on earth every year? The Throne of God is the most important place in the universe that you can possibly go to. What’s so outstanding about the Throne of God? It’s a massive place.
Years ago there was a series on TV called “John Doe”. John Doe is about this person who wakes up on a desert island and has no idea who is. He suffers from retrograde amnesia. He has no clue about his past but he finds that has an extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge of everything else. If you name any town in the United States, he can tell you the population to the exact number. He can tell who the mayor was in that town, what year he was born and how much his tax return was the previous year to the exact dollar. He knows all about science; he knows all about plant life; he knows all about mechanics etc. and he uses this extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge of everything to help solve crimes. But all the while he is helping other people, he is trying to find out about his past. John Doe knows everything about everything except WHO HE IS. That is what this post is about – it is about the John Doe’s in the body of Christ, many of them know a lot – they know Bible stories – they can quote Bible verses – they have been church and Sunday School their whole lives. They know all this ‘churchy-anity’ but have no heavenly clue who they are and why God left them on this desert island called earth.
I suppose it’s only fitting that I introduce myself to you, as that is what most people do upon meeting each other. I am the youngest born to my father Emery and my mother Sharon. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but you may call me Sophie West, and I’m a twenty something year old whose passion revolves around three things; My God, my family and words. These areas that I have centered my life on are seemingly typical responses to the age old question “What is important to you?” Well the first two are in any happenstance. Americans the world over have professed a deep and abiding love for God and family. But the two that I’m going to focus on are My God, and my words.
Dr. Tom McGuiness, a counseling psychologist in New Jersey, gives this explanation of why many affairs take place: Married people seek out or succumb to affairs when they feel devalued or less than fully alive. They are bored. Overburdened. People who have affairs have a child’s deep longing to be touched, caressed, held, hugged and kissed, whether they admit it or not. They want happy surprises. That might mean a sentimental unexpected gift every once in a while. More important, it is the dependable gift of time and caring. The present of shared ideas, experiences, stories, nonsense and games, including sexual games. They want the world to butt out. They want a loving friend, a pal who isn’t judgmental. They want someone to convince them they’re still loved, lovable and very special. For a little while, now and then, they want out from under the grown-up responsibilities that have become predictable, dreary and difficult. 1. These are some of the preventable feelings that couples have. As the old saying goes to be forewarned is to be forearmed. What are some things that married couples can focus to help affair proof their marriage?
Communion is the most solemn and holy of the ordinances of the church. It is the sacred of the sacred. The holy of the holiest. But what does it mean? What do all the elements convey? A.W. Tozer had his opinion. He said “The communion table will not have ultimate meaning for us if we do not believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is literally present in the Body of Christ on earth.” 1. Today we are going to look at some of the Bible words surrounding this most revered ceremony. We are going to look at Communion in simplest terms.
At roughly 11:05 PM on Christmas Eve, in the year 2001, while at work my wife Sharon suffered a brain aneurysm. You can find Sharon’s account of her anguishing life changing trial in this post “How God Miraculously Brought Me through A Brain Aneurysm.” This post is my version of that same day, the same ordeal, the same life changing distress. The same miraculous deliverance.
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Most people are busy, very busy. There is enough in life to carry you along. But if you allow the currents of your life to just bear you along, if you don’t intentionally set yourself to grow beyond yourself, you will become nothing more than a rocking chair believer. You know what a rocking chair believer is? It is one who sits in the same chair, the same place every day. If you are not growing, if you are stuck in a chair whose only activity is back and forth, all you will do for your constant going is wear out the carpet. In order to become more than that, in order to move forward with significant progress, you have to do so with intention. You have to do growth on purpose.
In the ancient Near East, dreams were one of several ways people sought to see the future and to make decisions that would be beneficial to them. In some societies, people went to temples or holy places to sleep in order to have a dream that would show them the best decision to make 1. Dreams are important and part of the fabric of life on planet earth. What can we learn about them and how they impact our being?
Psychological studies establish that by age five a child has formed a fairly definite impression of himself. The same studies reveal that self-esteem is not closely related to social position, family work background, education or any combination of such factors. A young child sees himself from the reflections of those close to him, mainly his parents. How they react to his activities largely determines the self image he builds 1. Having a wrong self-image can absolutely hinder God’s plan for your life. How can we identify and change a negative self-image?
Years ago when the western U.S. was being settled, roads were often just wagon tracks. (The wagon wheels would just carve out a rut in the road.) These rough trails or ruts posed serious problems for those who journeyed on them. On one of these winding paths was posted a sign which read: “Avoid this rut or you’ll be in it for the next 25 miles!” You can go to sleep in the wagon and not worry about getting off course because the only place you are going is wherever the ‘rut’ is. This picture is what a habit is like. A habit is something you can do without thinking. But habits always takes you someplace. As a believer in Jesus, there are good God habits that we can acquire.