Samaritan's Purse - Joplin Missouri - Tornado Relief

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14-17

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation..." Isaiah 52:7

"Meanwhile, in the War in Afghanistan...." by Bing West

I’ve been catching up reading some back issues of the The Wall Street Journal, and came across the article, “Meanwhile, in the War in Afghanistan…” by Bing West. Straightforward and dispassionately written, this essay takes a look at the “grunts” of the Third Platoon of Kilo Company, Fifth Marine Regiment.

From the article:

“Back in the U.S., the news was dominated by events in Libya, the start of March Madness in college basketball and the latest court appearance of Lindsay Lohan. The fighting season in Afghanistan had begun, too, but in the U.S., the decade-old war is now largely ignored.”

“'That’s a different world,'” replied Capt. Johnson, who is on his third combat tour. 'In the States, a bad day for a guy on his way to the office is a flat tire. A bad day out here is a double amputee. The public pays attention to Charlie Sheen. No one’s heard of Sgt. Abate.'”

The article goes on to explain how, after a patrol hit a minefield in late October, Sgt. Abate “had left his safe position and run to apply tourniquets and carry out the screaming, grievously wounded men. He was killed in action five weeks later, but only the platoon remembers his name.”

And for all those who think that the end of collective bargaining is the end of the world, West points out that these men “have volunteered to serve, and most of them will leave the military after four years, with no pension or benefits. They endure the mud, heat, stench, blood, fatigue and terror of lost limbs and lost lives.”

Yet,

“The grunts chose their profession,” West writes, “and they draw satisfaction from their Spartan existence. Almost every member of the Third Platoon said he wanted to be right where he was, living in a cave on the most dangerous battlefield in Afghanistan.”

Folks, this is integrity. And although it’s obvious that, to these men, recognition back home would be nice, it doesn’t determine their actions and it certainly isn’t what motivates them.

Today, as we read the latest headlines and find ourselves enamored with the divorce of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, maybe it’s time we exit the internet and write a letter of thanks to a soldier, say a prayer for their safety and pay more attention in general to what really matters in life, and less to what never mattered to begin with.

Please take time to read the entire article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576232542899743046.html

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

God and Lawn Care

If you are a natural gardener, you will love this humorous conversation between God and St. Francis. If you despise lawn maintenance and see it as drudgery, perhaps this will convince you to maintain your green space God's way. If you are the person bagging your grass in the Spring and Summer and your leaves in the fall, maybe the following conversation will give you a new appreciation for grass clippings and autumn leaves. Either way, the following is a fun read while we wait ever so patiently for the temperatures outside to rise above 50.

http://www.dunwoodygardenclub.com/God_Lawns.html

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations,..." Psalm 3:19

What is Biblical Testimony?

This past September I was asked by a youth pastor to give my testimony to about 40 high school students. I had never given my testimony in front of a large public group before, but I’d heard many testimonies, most of them rather dramatic. I was conflicted about how much to share with the youth, fearing too much information might glorify my past alcohol use or cause the youth to conclude one of two things: “See, she drank and turned out okay,” or “So I have to hit an alcoholic bottom in order to really feel the need for Christ?”

There had been previous “hitting bottom” testimonies in youth group, and I was concerned that these testimonies might imply that a “true” testimony is one that involves past criminal, drug, alcohol or sexual activity. So when it came time to share, I gave the Reader’s Digest version, leaving out my past alcohol use altogether and only talking about my secular humanist upbringing and how my independent self-reliance was a stumbling block to God.

Needless to say, the testimony was terrible. My son, who was in the audience, said I sounded extremely nervous, which I was, and that he couldn’t really hear me (which, in hindsight, is probably a good thing!)

As I look back on the experience, which soured me on testimonies in general, I am positive that I was not led by the Holy Spirit that night and that it was me deciding what to say and why. The more I tried to choreograph my testimony, the more it backfired.

God has used this experience to show me where strong pockets of pride exist and that I’m still way too self-conscious (another form of pride). And after all these months, He finally brought closure to the whole debacle in the form of another man’s testimony given at the recent Good News Jail and Prison Ministry Banquet. There, Rick Sweenie, a former inmate who has been involved in the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry for 35 years and is now a regional director, taught me what true testimony is when he said, “I’m not going to stand here and tell you how bad I was. I’m going to tell you how good God is.”

As I’ve read my Bible in the days since the prison banquet, God has shown me how Mr. Sweenie’s words are Biblical. In Matthew 9:35-36 especially, we learn that Jesus spoke out of compassion for the lost. Jesus’ focus was on the needs of his listeners. His heart broke for them. He wasn’t trying to wow them with an amazing testimony. He was trying to point them to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God where they could find healing. What point is testimony if it doesn’t do the same?

The risk of testimony is that we get too specific with our personal experience and lose people. The listener may not be able to relate, thinking they are either not as bad as us, dismissing their need for God, or are much worse and conclude God cannot redeem them. But when most of what we share is focused on the answer, regardless of the sins committed, that’s where the harvest is. The facts of broken lives are many and varied, but the answer for all of it is God through Jesus Christ.

I know now where I went wrong in my testimony. It was in thinking of it as mine and not God’s.

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:35-36

Samaritan's Purse - Pleasant Grove, Alabama - Tornado Relief

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39

Personal Jesus

So what now? The death and resurrection of Jesus has been marked and pondered and celebrated. What now?

Now is when we continue to walk with Jesus. We spend even more time with Him in prayer and in His Word and in obedience to his Holy Spirit than before. In short, we continue to grow in our personal relationship with Him. If you do not yet know Jesus, John 14:7-11 tells us that going forward, you can. The best place to start to get to know Jesus is in the entire book of John.

Now, there are some folks in the Christian press and church (who consider themselves to be especially relevant and current) that have taken a low view of a personal relationship with Christ. They have conjured an opinion that it is somehow selfish, too inward-looking or not concerned enough with the environment or social justice. Yet Philippians 2:5 tells us our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” How can we know the attitude of Christ if we do not know Christ personally? Everything begins with a personal relationship with Christ because only He is good and only He can produce regeneration and right motives.

Philippians 2:13 reminds us that “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Let me be clear: I’m not advocating a personal Jesus in the sense that Jesus becomes who we want Him to be, or becomes a creation of our own imagination. The personal Jesus I’m talking about is the Jesus of the Bible that we can approach one-to-one. The fear of the Lord is not about being afraid. It’s about a loving God wanting us to respect Him enough to come to Him and trust Him like He asks us to and very much wants us to. But He desires we come to Him through Jesus Christ…not an image, fantasy or self-made secular humanist construction of Him. Acts 17:29 says, “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.”

God wants us to come to Him based on who He is: the God of the Bible. It is on that foundation only on which He does the work of building personal relationship.

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. John 10:14-18

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.'” John 14:6-7

You're Beautiful -Phil Wickham {HD}

"'Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?'

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 15:55-57