Grace Happens

To discover Grace is to discover God’s utter devotion to you, His stubborn resolve to give you a healing, purging love.

The Bible tells us, “You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.”  Does he stand high on a hill and bid you climb out of the valley?  No.  He bungees down and carries you out.  Does he build a bridge and command you to cross it?  No. He crosses the bridge and shoulders you over. This is the gift God gives.  A grace that grants us the power to receive love and the power to give it.  A grace that changes us and leads us to a life that is eternally altered.

All God wants from us is faith.  Put your faith in God.  And grow in God’s Grace.  More verb than noun, more present tense than past tense, Grace didn’t just happen; it happens.  May it happen to you!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23″

From: GRACE

Love, Marriage, and Stinkin...: Sex Makes You Stupid

For more information on the show and more of Mark Gungor, check out our website, http://www.stinkingthinking.tv

Today's program is an important one for parents of teens and anyone who is single or in a dating relationship. Mark and Debbie take on the issues of dating including staying sexually pure until the wedding night, why it is important to do a good job in the dating process, and the important question every girl should ask any guy she is dating.

Find out what Mark means when he says, "Sex makes you stupid!" and why living together isn't such a great idea.

Sunday Sermon - 30-Dec-2012 - Pr. Kenath Verghese

Speaker: Pastor Kenath Verghese
FGA Mornington Peninsula, Australia.

http://www.mediafire.com/?02pjun5sy1lnnm4

Jesus is the Gift

Little Carol with the pigtails, freckles, and shiny back shoes. Don’t let her sweet description fool you.  She broke my heart!  On the day of the great gift exchange in my fourth-grade class, I ripped the wrapping paper off the box to find—stationery.  Stationery!  Brown envelopes and folded note cards with a picture of a cowboy lassoing a horse.  What ten-year-old boy uses stationery?  There’s a term for this kind of gift:  obligatory!

I know we shouldn’t complain, but don’t you detect a lack of originality? And when a person gives a genuine gift, don’t you cherish the presence of a gift just for you?  Have you ever received such a gift?  Yes, you have.  You’ve been given a perfect personal gift.  One just for you. God says to anyone who’ll listen:  ”There has been born for you…a Savior…. ”  Jesus is the gift!

 “There has been born for you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11”

From: GRACE

Singing the Song Again

Do you have a prodigal?  Do you long for your spouse to return to God?  Do you have a friend whose faith has grown cold?  God wants them back more than you do.  Keep praying, but don’t give up.  God places a song in the hearts of his children.

Psalm 40:3 says it’s a “new song in my mouth.”  Some saints sing this song loud and long every single day of their lives.  In other cases the song falls silent.  Life’s hurts and happenings mute the music within.  Long seasons pass and God’s song isn’t sung!

Truth is, we don’t always know if someone has trusted God’s grace.  It isn’t ours to know.  But we know this:  Where there is genuine conversion, there is eternal salvation. Eventually his own will hear his voice, and something within them will awaken.  And when it does—they will begin to sing again.

He has put a new song in my mouth
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.  Psalm 40:3

From: GRACE

There Would Be No Christmas Without the Holy Spirit

The birth of Jesus was a Spirit-filled event. I pray your Christmas will be filled with the Spirit, too.

We Christians are notorious for downplaying the Holy Spirit. Many churches confine Him in a box of tradition or just ignore Him. Some Christians treat the Third Person of the Trinity as if he magically materialized in the book of Acts, like a genie out of a bottle, and then vanished after the early church was established.

But the Holy Spirit is first mentioned in the second verse of the Bible! The same Spirit who brooded over the waters at Creation (see Gen. 1:2), inspired the Old Testament prophets and empowered the first disciples at Pentecost also was involved in every step of the Christmas story. We should pay closer attention to the Spirit’s work in the miracle of the incarnation.

"If I am to attempt any task for God, I must do it in the power of the Spirit. I cannot just come up with a good idea and ask God to bless it. It must be God’s idea, and it must be soaked in the Holy Spirit’s anointing from the moment of conception!”

Luke, the author of the book of Acts, pays close attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in his gospel. Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus is the most detailed, and he highlights the Holy Spirit’s activity in the lives of five people in the first two chapters.

No Small Power

Where there’s no assurance of salvation, there’s no peace.  No peace means no joy.  No joy results in fear-based lives.  Is this the life God creates?  No.  Grace creates a confident soul.  His love isn’t contingent on your own.  Do you find such a promise hard to believe?  In John 17:11 and verse 20, Jesus prays:

“Holy Father, keep them and care for them, all those you have given me, so that they will be united just as we are.  I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony.”

Our faith will wane, our resolve waver, but we will not fall away.  Jude 1 says, we are “kept by Jesus” and shielded by God’s power.  And that is no small power!  It’s the power of a living and ever-persistent Savior.

From: GRACE

Ordinary No More

It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness.  Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity.  Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity.  One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien!

The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because it’s when lights are best seen and when they are most needed.  It all happened in a most remarkable moment—a moment like no other.  God became a man.  Divinity arrived.  Heaven opened and placed her most precious one in a human womb.  God had come near!

In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come, and how much he must love his people!

“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, goodwill toward men.”  (Luke 2:13)

From: Christmas Stories

Sunday Sermon - 25-Dec-2012 - Rev Dr Stephen Tee

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Stephen Tee

http://www.mediafire.com/?qb4b7ziwaytat7h

His Kingdom Will Never End

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looks into the face of the baby.  Her son. Her Lord.  His majesty—she can’t take her eyes off him.  Somehow Mary knows she’s holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel.  “His kingdom will never end!”

He looks like anything but a king. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of the mundane.  Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat.  Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

God came near!

“And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. Luke 1:33″

From: Grace for the Moment

Is Marriage a 50/50 Proposition?

Mark discusses the idea of marriage being a 50/50 proposition.
This is bonus content related to Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 23-Dec-2012 - Pr. Malcolm Dennis

Speaker: Pr. Malcolm Dennis
Full Gospel Assembly Kuala Lumpur

http://www.mediafire.com/?b98i75on5cuqu0b

No Room

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.” (Luke 2:7)

And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection?  “We don’t have room for you in our world.”

Even today Jesus is given the same treatment.  He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed.  Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay.  And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” (John 14:2)

What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….And he makes room for us in his house!

From: Grace for the Moment

When We Don’t Have the Words to Pray

When tragedy strikes like it did last week in Connecticut, it’s OK if you are speechless.

Some members of my church gathered near the altar last Sunday to pray for those affected by the recent school massacre in Connecticut. Our pastor had a list of the victims, and he asked that we mention each of the families by name.

It wasn’t easy to read that list. It included Daniel Barden, age 7; Charlotte Bacon, 6; Olivia Engel, 6; Chase Kowalski, 7; and Jack Pinto, 6. A total of 20 children died in the shootings, plus six adults, including Victoria Soto, the brave first-grade teacher who herded her students into a closet when the gunman approached her classroom. She was 27, the same age as my oldest daughter.

"We charismatics excel in telling everyone else exactly how to pray, how to bind demons, how to break curses, how to command money into our bank accounts and how to discern the enemy’s strategy behind every problem so it will go away. But life does not always follow the manual.”

Some people in my church found it too difficult to pray out loud. That’s understandable. But how exactly do we pray when tragedy strikes?

How do we frame a prayer for the families of little boys and girls who were pumped with bullets in their suburban school? How do we go back to a normal routine when it seems all that is innocent in our nation has been shattered?

He Called His Name Jesus

Scripture says,  “And Joseph took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.  And he called His name Jesus! Matthew 1:24”

Joseph was literally willing to tank his reputation.  And he did. He traded it in for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship.  He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.  Rather than make a name for himself, he made a home for Christ.  And because he did, a great reward came his way. “And he called His name Jesus!”

Of all the saints, sinners, prodigals, and preachers who’ve spoken the name, Joseph—a blue-collar, small-town construction worker said it first.  Joseph cradled the wrinkle-faced prince of heaven, and with an audience of angels and pigs, whispered, “Jesus—You’ll be called Jesus!”

From: Grace for the Moment

God Stakes His Claim

I heard the announcement, “Your name is on the standby list!”  Groan!  The dreaded standby list.  Possibility but no guarantee.

Oh, to be numbered among the confirmed!  To have my own seat and departure time.  How can you rest if you aren’t assured passage on the final flight home?

Many live with a deep-seated anxiety about eternity.  They think they’re saved, but they still doubt, wondering, “Am I really saved?” Jesus promised a new life that could not be forfeited or terminated.  He says “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned.” God stakes his claim on us.  Bridges are burned, and the transfer is accomplished.  Ups and downs may mark our days, but they will never ban us from his kingdom.  Jesus bottom-lines our lives with His grace!

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.  John 5:24″

From: GRACE

Uncle Billy

Uncle Billy had come to west Texas to visit the grave of my dad, who’d died several months before.  We laughed, talked, and reminisced. When time came to leave, he followed me to my car.  He placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Max, I want you to know, your dad was very proud of you.”  I contained the emotion until I pulled away.  Then I began to blubber like a six-year-old.

We never outgrow our need for a father’s love.  May I serve the role of an Uncle Billy in your life?  The words I give you are God’s.  Don’t filter, or downplay them.  Just receive them.  God says, I have redeemed you.  The transaction is sealed.  Settled.  I God, choose you to be part of my forever family. To live as God’s child is to know, at this very instant, that you’re loved by your Maker!

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!   I John 3:1″

From: GRACE

Your Identity

Your identity isn’t in your possessions, talents, tattoos, kudos, or accomplishments.  Nor are you defined by your divorce, deformity, debt or dumb choices.  You are God’s child.  You get to call him “Papa.”

According to Scripture, Ephesians 3:12 invites you to approach God with freedom and confidence. I John 4:9-11 promises that you will receive the blessings of his special love and provision. Romans 8:17 says you will inherit the riches of Christ and reign with him forever.

If God loves you, you must be worth loving.  If he wants to have you in his kingdom, then you must be worth having.  God’s grace invites you—no, requires you—to change your attitude about yourself and take sides with God against your feelings of rejection.  Let these words cement in your heart a deep, satisfying, fear-quenching confidence that God will never let you go.

You belong to Him!

From: GRACE

Mark Gungor - # 1 Key to Incredible Sex

*within the context of marriage

Mark Gungor speaks on : Exclusivity (one man + one woman) & the Effects of Masturbation

Sunday Sermon - 16-Dec-2012 - Dr Sandra Nair

Speaker: Dr. Sandra Nair
Eagle Heights Network

http://www.mediafire.com/?qurcjh5vl1bdyi1

A Christmas Prayer

Dear Jesus,

It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord.  These children, Lord.  Innocence violated.  Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas.  But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty.  Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,

Your Children

God’s Offer to be Adopted

When the doctor handed Max Lucado to Jack Lucado, my dad had no exit option. He couldn’t give me back to the doctor and ask for a better looking or smarter son. The hospital made him take me home!

If you were adopted, however, your parents chose you.  Surprise pregnancies happen.  But surprise adoptions?  I’ve never heard of one.  Your parents wanted you in their family. You object.  “Oh, but if they could have seen the rest of my life, they might have changed their minds.” My point exactly!

God saw our entire lives from beginning to end, birth to hearse, and in spite of what he saw, he was still convinced to adopt us into his own family, bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. To accept God’s grace is to accept God’s offer to be adopted into his family. It really is this simple!

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.   I Peter 2:9″

From: GRACE

Please Don’t Worship the iPreacher

Let’s be careful of building a ministry on one man’s charisma—even if he is trendy

Thanks to amazing advancements in digital technology, pastors today can reach massive audiences. Their sermons can become overnight YouTube sensations. Some of our most gifted Christian communicators touch millions through their downloadable sermons. Others broadcast their messages to multi-site locations so that their reach is multiplied to 10 or 20 congregations instead of one.

I’m not complaining about this. I love the fact that this column (which started out as a page in a paper magazine) is now able to travel to the other side of the world in seconds. I’m glad I can preach the gospel through Twitter and Facebook. God wants us to use modern technology.

"Pride is still pride, whether it is clothed in yesterday’s polyester or today’s distressed denim. Just as the most popular televangelists failed morally in the 1980s, we are bound to see today’s iPreachers fall if we repeat the mistakes of the past."

But as much as I love my iPad, and as much as I welcome all the rapid changes occurring in communications, I’m concerned about the emergence of the iPreacher.

The iPreacher is not a new phenomenon. In another era he (or she) would have been called a televangelist. But televangelists today are considered as outdated as three-piece suits and Brylcreem. Today’s celebrated communicator may still be on television, but his design is updated. His hairstyle is cool, he has a few days’ stubble on his face and his ministry has an app for your smartphone.

Chosen Children

There’s something in you that God loves!  Not just appreciates or approves—but loves. You cause God’s eyes to widen, his heart to beat faster. He loves you and accepts you.

Don’t we yearn to know this?  God, do you know who I am?  In the great scheme of things do I count for anything?  So many messages tell us we don’t. We get laid off at work, turned away by the school.  Everything from acne to Alzheimer’s leaves us feeling like the girl with no date to the prom.  We react.  We validate our existence with a flurry of activity.  We do more, buy more, achieve more.  Always, wrestling with the question, “Do I matter?”

All of grace, I believe, is God’s definitive reply.  “Be blessed, my child.  I accept you.  I have adopted you into my family.”  Adopted children are chosen children!  Trust God’s love for you!

“But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!  Galatians 4:4-6″

From: GRACE

The Grace-given, Give Grace

The grace-given—give grace!  Is grace happening to you?  Is there anyone in your life you refuse to forgive?  If so, do you appreciate God’s forgiveness toward you?  Do you resent God’s kindness to others?  Do you grumble at God’s uneven compensation?  How long has it been since your generosity stunned someone?

Since someone objected, “No, really, this is too generous?”  If it’s been awhile reconsider God’s extravagant grace.  Psalm 103:2-3 says, “Forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity.”  Let grace unscrooge your heart.  Like Peter encourages us in 2 Peter 3:18 to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

When grace happens, generosity happens.  Unsquashable, eye-popping, big-heartedness happens!  You simply can’t contain it all.  Let it bubble over.  Let it spill out.  Let it pour forth.

From: GRACE

Cascading Grace

It was supposed to have been a day of dreams coming true!  But across town, Jack Autry was in a hospital, struggling to stay alive. Chrysalis and the women in her family found the perfect bridal gown in Amy Wells’ shop. One Jack might never see.  Because of his cancer, he couldn’t come to see his daughter try on her dress.  And because of medical bills, the family couldn’t buy the dress yet for him to see.

Amy, the wedding shop owner said, “God clearly spoke to me.” She told Chrysalis, “take the gown and veil right now to the hospital and wear it for your daddy.” Jack couldn’t believe how beautiful Chrysalis looked!  Three days later Jack died.

Amy’s generosity created a moment of cascading grace.  God to Amy to Chrysalis to Jack. Isn’t this how God works?  He doesn’t just love; he “lavishes us with love!” His grace “exceedingly abundant”—“indescribable!”

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21″

From: GRACE

Amazing Grace

“Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

When John Newton penned this promise, he did so out of personal experience. His greatest test came the day he buried his wife, Mary.  He’d loved her dearly and prayed his death would precede hers.  But his prayer was not answered.

On the day Mary Newton died, John Newton found strength to preach a Sunday sermon. The next day he visited church members, and later he officiated at his wife’s funeral.  He grieved but in his grief he found God’s provision.  He later wrote, “The Bank of England is too poor to compensate for such a loss as mine.  But the Lord, the all-sufficient God speaks, and it is done.  Let those who know Him, and trust Him, be of good courage.”

My friend, disease, calamity, and trouble populate your world.  But they don’t control it!  Grace does.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

From: GRACE

Why Can't My Spouse Say What They Mean?

Mark discusses the common question people ask about their spouses.

This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 9-Dec-2012 - Bro. Chin Teng Lum -

Speaker: Bro. Chin Teng Lum
White Fields Assembly Seremban

http://www.mediafire.com/?1sisu8ch1z0h48t

Best. Husband. Ever.

Wives can't change their husbands, but wives can and do have a tremendous influence on their husbands. How can you make that influence positive?

Men respond positively to praise. 

One of the most common complaints men make in my office is: "Dr. Chapman, in my work I am respected. People come to me for advice. But at home, all I get is criticism." What she considers suggestions, he reads as criticism. Her efforts to stimulate growth have backfired.

The fastest way to influence a husband is to give him praise. Praise him for effort, not perfection. You may be asking, But if I praise him for mediocrity, will it not stifle growth? The answer is a resounding "No." Your praise urges him on to greater accomplishments.

My challenge is to look for things your husband is doing right and praise him. Praise him in private, praise him in front of the children, praise him in front of your parents and his parents, praise him in front of his peers. Then stand back and watch him go for the gold.

Requests are more productive than demands.
None of us like to be controlled, and demands are efforts at controlling. "If you don't mow the grass this afternoon, then I'm going to mow it." I wouldn't make that demand unless you want to be the permanent lawn mower. It is far more effective to say, "Do you know what would really make me happy?" Wait until he asks, "What?" Then say, "If you could find time this afternoon to mow the grass. You always do such a great job."

The Gladdest News of All

Grace is simply another word for God’s reservoir of strength and protection.  Not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave.  We barely regain our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another!

We dare to stake our hope on the gladdest news of all:  if God permits the challenge, he will provide the grace to meet it.  We never exhaust his supply. “Stop asking so much!  My grace reservoir is running dry.”  Heaven knows no such words.  God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear that you cry, and answer every question you ask.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8:32).

Having given the supreme and costliest gift, how can he fail to lavish upon us all he has to give?

From: GRACE

10 Stupid Things Ministers Should Never Do

If you aspire to ministry, don’t be stupid. Decide now to avoid these obvious pitfalls.

I had the privilege of sharing a pulpit with Dr. Mary Ann Brown two times. She was bold, prophetic and painfully blunt. People who hate women preachers hated her even more because of her no-nonsense sermons—always delivered in her Texas twang. She would get her audience laughing and then skewer them with a hot blade of truth.

When this spiritual giant died last month at age 73, I remembered the last words she said to me when we were together at a conference in Chicago in 2011. After lamenting the fact that so many ministers in the United States were failing, Mary Ann locked eyes with me and said with stern, motherly authority: “Lee, please don’t ever get stupid.”

“I don’t want to be stupid. I want to finish well. So how can we avoid spiritual stupidity? We can start by avoiding these top 10 mistakes that have become common in our movement during the past decade.”

I knew exactly what she meant—and I’ve pondered her words often, especially since her death. I don’t want to be stupid; I want to finish well. So how can we avoid spiritual stupidity? We can start by avoiding these 10 mistakes that have become common in our movement during the past decade. If you are a minister, or if you aspire to be one, please decide now that you will never copy these behaviors.

Sustaining Grace

The Apostle Paul wrote, “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, from Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)

The cancer in the body.  The sorrow in the heart. The child in the rehab center. The craving for whiskey in the middle of the day. The tears in the middle of the night.  The thorn-in-the-flesh. “Take it away,” you’ve pleaded.  Not once, twice, or even three times.  You’ve outprayed Paul.  And you’re about to hit the wall.

But what you hear is this:  “My grace is sufficient for you.”  Sustaining grace. The grace that meets us at our point of need and equips us with courage, wisdom, and strength.  Sustaining grace!  It doesn’t promise the absence of struggle.  It promises the presence of God.

From: GRACE

A Spiritual MRI

What would an X-ray—an MRI—of your soul reveal?  Regrets over teenage relationships?  Remorse over a poor choice?  You become moody, cranky.  You’re angry, irritable.  Understandable, you have shame lodged in your soul.

Interested in an extraction?  Confess.  Request a spiritual MRI.  Psalm 139: 23-24 is just that:

“Search me, O God and know my heart;
 try me, and know my anxieties;
and see if there’s any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”

We need a prayer of grace-based confession.

God, I’ve done what you say is wrong.
Would you wash away my guilt and make me clean again.

No chant or candle needed.  Just an honest prayer of confession.  Try it!

From: GRACE

Confession

Confession!  It’s a word that conjures up many images—some not so positive.

Confession isn’t telling God what he doesn’t know.  That’s impossible.  It’s not pointing fingers at others without pointing any at me.  That may feel good, but it doesn’t promote healing. Confession is a radical reliance on grace—a trust in God’s goodness.  The truth is, confessors find a freedom that deniers don’t!

Scripture says,  “If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right.  He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done. John 1:8-9″

Tell God what you did.  Again, it’s not that he doesn’t already know, but the two of you need to agree!  Then let the pure water of grace flow over your mistakes!

From: GRACE

The Reset Button

Mark discusses the idea of the reset button, apologizing to your spouse and others and asking for forgiveness.

This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 2-Dec-2012 - Pr. Benedict Muthusamy

Speaker: Pastor Benedict Muthusamy
Open Doors Malaysia

http://www.mediafire.com/?i37ftrfdqh36lbl

Is Separation the End?

Thousands of people experience marital separation every year. Many of them sincerely want to know, "What should I do?" Here are some thoughts to guide you, or those you love, through this process:

Don't assume that separation equals divorce. Separation just means that a marriage is in desperate straits. Separation is not permanent and has the potential to even lead to a restored, enriched, growing marriage. What you do in the weeks following your separation will determine the quality of your life for years to come. Separation is not the time to capitulate. Healing will require listening, understanding, discipline, change. But hard work can result in the joy of a restored marriage.

I realize some may respond: "It sounds good, but it won't work. We've tried before. Besides, I don't think my spouse will even try again. I'm not even sure I want to try." I understand your feelings, but don't assume that the hostile attitude of your spouse will last forever, or that your own feelings are permanent. One of God's gifts to all of us is the gift of choice. We can change.

Your spouse may be saying: "I'm through. It is finished. I don't want to talk about it." But three week or three months from now your spouse may be willing to talk. Much depends on what you do in the meantime, and much depends on your spouse's response to the Spirit of God. You pray. You work. You leave the results to God. When we chose to work on our marriages, we have all the help of God. God will not force your spouse to deal with issues and return to the marriage, but He will give you wisdom and strength as you seek to follow His will.

Warn the Unruly.

The word unruly describes those who break the rules or ignore the rules. It refers to willful disobedience. An unruly person chooses to do wrong, though he knows what is right. Such behavior requires a clear, understandable, enforceable warning, and appropriate consequences if the child ignores the warning.

Parents set boundaries for their children. Though we know that our children could still get hurt living within the boundaries, we know there are hidden dangers, dangers they do not understand, outside the boundaries.

Parents must teach children the very important lesson of obeying the rules and limits we set. For that to happen, the rules must be fair, consistent, and appropriate to the child's age. Fair, because unfair rules lead to resentful children. Consistent, because only consistent rules develop solid character. Possible for the child to obey, because what works with a five-year-old won't work with his twelve-year-old sister.

A few years ago, a frustrated mother wrote to a newspaper advice column for help with her daughter. The little girl, only five years old, made life unbearable for everyone around her. The mother wanted to know if her daughter was old enough to discipline. "Get busy," the columnist answered, "you have wasted the five most important years of your child's life." We don't want to make the same mistake, do we?

More Dinghy than Cruise Ship?

Are you more dinghy. . .than cruise ship? Or in my case, more blue jeans than blue blood? Well congratulations, God changes the world with folks like you!

The next time you say, “I don’t think God could use me!”—stop right there!  Satan’s going to try to tell you that God has an IQ requirement.  That he employs only experts and high-powered personalities.  When you hear Satan whispering that lie—hit him with this:  God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds.  Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store!

But what they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, “Follow me.”

So what do you think?  More plumber than executive?  More stand-in than movie star? Yeah—congratulations!  God uses people like you…and me.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  Matthew 16:24″

From: Max on Life

Serving God in a Dry Season

The year 2013 will be challenging, but it will also be a time to witness God’s supernatural provision.

While Hurricane Sandy’s floods dominated recent weather headlines, a very different weather pattern has cost us more than the superstorm’s $50 billion in damages. The United States actually needs rain—and lots of it.

Forecasters say our nation is experiencing its worst drought since 1954. As of this week, 60.1 percent of the nation is in drought, with six states—Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado and Iowa—entirely in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Lakes are drying up, crops are dying and ranchers are scrambling to feed their cows.

"How can we experience provision during a recession? It is possible because God’s economy is not linked to this world’s corrupt system. Just as the widow’s oil flowed even when her bank account was dry, you too can know supernatural blessing even when the nation is dangling over a fiscal cliff"

Some people figure this prolonged dry spell is just the result of cyclical climate patterns. Maybe so, but the Bible suggests that droughts and famines can be linked to spiritual realities. Sometimes the natural world reflects our spiritual condition. Man’s pride, greed, injustice and idolatry can actually disturb nature.

The Forgiveness of Christ

The dilemma was:  “I know the Bible says I’m forgiven.  But my conscience says I’m not!”

If this question hits home… If you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness, you’re doomed to live in fear.  And no pill or pep talk can set you at ease.  Am I right?  You may deaden the fear, but you can’t remove it.  Only God’s grace can do that!

Have you accepted the forgiveness of Christ?  If not, do it!  The Bible says “if we confess our sins, God is faithful–not just to forgive us, but He cleanses us from all unrighteousness! I John 1:9″

Make it your simple prayer:  Dear Father, I need forgiveness.  I admit I’ve turned away from you.  Forgive me, please.  I place my soul in Your hands and I trust in your grace.  Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Now!  Live forgiven!

From: Max on Life

He Makes a Difference

We get what sin is.  But, what we struggle with is how to make up for it? 

To put it simply—we’re not good enough!  If I lose my temper in traffic, can I make up for it by waving at the next four cars?  If I’m greedy one year, how many years should I be generous?

The truth is, I don’t know the answer to those questions. There’s no price list.  No rule sheet.   Is God some kind  of heavenly deal broker who sells packages of grace?  Is that the kind of God we have?  Is that the kind God we want?  Actually, God’s standard is much higher.

Romans 3:23 says, we fall short of the glory of God.  Way short!  We’re not good enough—but He is!  It’s Christ in us that makes the difference!

From: Max on Life

Who is God?

So who is God?  Can I trust Him to take care of me?  How much time do you have?

The weather changes—but God is UN-changing!   Fashion changes.  Even change changes. But Hebrews 6:17 says, God is always the same—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

So can we trust God?  Is He powerful enough?  You and I are limited—I think that goes without saying!   One sneeze in my direction, and I’m contaminated, sick with a cold and out for a week.  No one can soil or stain God.  No sin contaminates Him.

We’re limited by brain capacity, time, relationship overload, and responsibilities—you can only be at one soccer game at a time after all!  And patience!  But God?  He has no limit to his time, power, knowledge and love.

Check it out for yourself in Psalms 147:4-5

He counts the stars
and names each one.
Our Lord is great and very powerful.
There is no limit to what he knows.

So—can God take care of you?   I’ll let you answer that!

From: Max on Life

A New Version

Some of us are so disappointed in what we see as love— even to the point we can’t imagine God’s love.

The problem is—human love is convenient.  It’s limited.  It’s hormones—it’s emotional.  Like eating the wrong thing before you go to bed.  It felt good at first—but now?  Not so much!

God’s love is eternal—unlimited.  It is commitment. God has feelings for us, but his feelings don’t dictate his love.  God’s love is based on his decision!  His love is deeper and more secure than anything you’ve ever experienced in your life.

So what do we do to make our love a better version?  How about if we express God’s love in our human relationships? How about we become that “someone” in the life of another who can look back and say, “I saw God’s love in them!”

“This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.  Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other. No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made perfect in us.  I John 4:9-12″

From: Max on Life

I Tried More than Once!

Mark addresses the common complaint he hears that someone has already tried asking their spouse more than once and it doesn't work.

This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 25-Nov-2012 - Pr. Sandeep Daniel

Speaker: Pastor Sandeep Daniel

http://www.mediafire.com/?40d1f8z3q027jlo

He’s the Real Deal

God’s not a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em kind of God!  When I was 7, I ran away from home.  I’d had it with my dad and his rules. With my clothes in a paper bag, I headed out. What do I need a father for?  Well, I didn’t go far.  When it  came down to it, hunger won me over!

Did my dad know what I’d done—what I thought?  I suspect he did—dads always seem to, don’t they?  But you know—my dad called himself my father even when I didn’t call myself his son.  His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him.

You can count on God to be in your corner—no matter what–He cares!

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7″

From: Max On Life

Thanksgiving—The Remedy for a Rotten Attitude

My experience with Third-World poverty last week reminded me that we are so much more blessed than we realize.

Whenever I stare Third-World poverty in the face I receive a painful attitude adjustment. This happened to me last week when I visited a refuge for disaster victims in the small community of Manatí, Colombia. Approximately 1,500 people—all of whom lost their homes during floods two years ago—now live in crude storage units equipped with running water and makeshift latrines.

I stuck my head in one of the apartment doors just to see the conditions. A single mother lived in one room with her eight children. Some pigs and dogs, looking uncomfortable in the South American humidity, sought shade near a window nearby. Most kids in the camp played with old jars, plastic bins and sticks, but I noticed one dirty-faced girl with a used doll. She had created a home for her Barbie in the dirt outside her front door.

“Thanksgiving has the power to adjust our selfish hearts and recalibrate our whiny attitudes. When we thank the Lord, we subdue the pride in our hearts and crush our craving for entitlement.”

The people of Manatí know nothing about hot water, air conditioning or flush toilets. They certainly don’t have smartphones, flat-screen televisions, washing machines or Internet access. They’ve never heard of digital books, granite countertops, spa treatments, GPS devices, Jacuzzis, gourmet kitchens or Netflix. They can’t imagine paying $4 for a cup of coffee or $10 for a movie ticket. Being able to own a car is unthinkable.

Joys of the Feast

The Thanksgiving meal is over.  My legs are propped up on the hearth.  I have every intention of dozing off very soon.  The turkey’s been attacked.   The giblet gravy has been gobbled.  The table is clear.  The kids are napping.  And the family’s content.  Yesterday’s challenges in the trip getting here were lost in today’s joy.

That’s what Paul meant in 2nd Corinthians when he talked of our light and momentary troubles.  God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say the arrival would be worthwhile.  Remember this:  God may not do what you want, but He will do what is right—and best.  He is the Father of forward motion.

Trust Him. He will get you home.  And the trials of the trip will be lost in the joys of the feast.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a bit tired from the journey and it feels good to rest.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17”

From: In the Eye of the Storm

Worship

We hear a lot about “worship”—but what is it exactly?  Worship is when you’re aware that what you’ve been given is far greater than what you can give.  Worship is the awareness that were it not for God’s touch, you’d still be hobbling and hurting, bitter and broken. Worship is the “thank you” that refuses to be silenced.

Oh we’ve tried to make a science out of worship.  We can’t do that any more than we can “sell love” or negotiate peace.”  Worship is a voluntary act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, and by the delivered to the Deliverer.

If you and I can go days without feeling an urge to say “thank you” to the One who saved, healed, and delivered us, then we’d do well to remember what He did!

“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  2 Corinthians 4:15”

From: In the Eye of the Storm

Stay Close to the Vine

God says to you and me, “You can be fruitful, but I’m going to have to clip some diseased leaves.”   Arrogance.  Vain ambitions. Bad relationships.  Dangerous opportunities.  Revenge.  Does God take this process lightly?  I don’t think so.  John 15:2 says, “He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit.”

So what are we to do?  We branches on the vine– what is our response?  An answer commonly given at this point is the imperative, “Bear fruit!”  But is that the right response?  If a branch is fruitless does it help if the gardener demands fruit?  Please note, the branch cannot make fruit.

Jesus says, “remain in me. . .”   Remain in my love. . .  If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce fruit.  Our task?  It’s clear.  Stay close to the vine.  Jesus said, “apart from Me, you can do nothing.” John 15:5

From: A Gentle Thunder

How Can I Change My Husband?

Mark addresses the common question from wives of "How can I get my husband to be like everybody else's husbands who are so nice, kind, and considerate?"

Sunday Sermon - 18-Nov-2012 - Dr Lay Kee Neu

Speaker: Dr. Lay Kee Neu

http://www.mediafire.com/?vge68it3rjr38jf

Sharing My Money

Our Mentality
Remember when we were kids and our parents told us to share? Why was that so hard? Well if we thought it was hard to share our toys it's even harder to share our money. When you get married it's time for a change in the mentality of, "Mine!"

When you get married, it is no longer, "your money" and "my money," but rather "our money." Likewise, it is no longer "my debts" and "your debts," but rather "our debts." When you accept each other as a partner, you accept each other's liabilities as well as each other's assets.

Full Disclosure
A full disclosure of assets and liabilities should be made before marriage. It's not wrong to enter marriage with debts, but you ought to know what those debts are and agree on a plan for repayment.

Marriage is two becoming one. Applied to finances, this means that all our resources belong to both of us. One of us may be responsible for paying the bills and balancing the checkbook, but this should never be used as an excuse for hiding financial matters. Full and open discussions should precede any financial decision. Marriage is enhanced by agreement in financial matters.

Whose Money is It?
If you're the "bread-winner" of the family how do you maintain humility and remember that it's not YOUR money? If you have a lot of debt in your name, do you ever feel blamed by your spouse for that? We can lift one another up if we remember that all we have belongs to the Lord anyway.

Continue the conversation: Share your questions, thoughts insights, or comments by joining the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/5lovelanguages 

Crazy Idea?

My family consisted of me, two sisters and a brother.  We were siblings because we came from the same family.  I’m sure there have been times when they did not want to call me their brother, but they didn’t have that choice.  Nor do we.  When I see someone calling God Father and Jesus Savior,  I meet a brother or a sister—regardless of the name of their church or denomination.

What would happen—I know this is a crazy thought—but what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names to simply “church?”   What if reference to any denomination were removed and we were all just Christians?  Then we Christians wouldn’t be known for what divides us; instead we’d be known for what unites us—our common Father.

Crazy idea?  Perhaps.  But I think God would like it.  It was his to begin with.

“Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” (Rom. 15:7)

From: A Gentle Thunder

Why We Must Confront the Global Abuse of Women

The church cannot be silent while the world addresses the worst social injustice of our times.

Several months ago a street vendor named Rosa Elvira Cely placed a desperate call to Colombia’s national emergency number on her cellphone. “I’m in the national park,” she said. “They are raping me! They are raping me!”

Police in Bogotá couldn’t respond fast enough. When they found Rosa she was unconscious and barely breathing. She had stab wounds in her back, she had been raped and beaten, and a jagged piece of wood had been shoved into her vagina. Official reports said the 35-year-old single mother, who had been studying to finish high school, had been impaled.

“Jesus ministered in a male-dominant culture in which women were marginalized, demoralized, abused, denied rights, and judged as guilty before they could be proven innocent. Yet He defended women from their accusers, healed them, empowered them, invited them to become His disciples, and allowed them to be the first to announce the good news of His resurrection.”

She died on May 28, and 1,000 Colombians gathered in the park where she was attacked to decry the horrific violence against women that has become a national trend. They carried signs that said, “NI UNA MAS!” (“Not one more!”).

Call it Grace

You’ve done some nice things in your life.  But you have not done enough good works to go to heaven regardless of your sacrifice.  Nor do you have enough character to go to heaven.  Please don’t be offended.  Then, again, be offended, if necessary.  You’re probably a very decent person.  But decency isn’t enough.  You may pay taxes and kiss your kids and sleep with a clean conscience.

Hebrews 12:14 says, “Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord.”

Apart from Christ you are not holy.  So how can you go to heaven?  Only believe.  Accept the work already done, the work of Jesus on the cross.  Accept the goodness of Jesus Christ.  Abandon your own works and accept his. It would have bankrupted you or me, the price was so extravagant.

Call it a gift.  But don’t call it easy.  Call it what it is.  Call it grace.

From:  A Gentle Thunder

We Are Needed

Two of my teenage years were spent carrying a tuba in my high school marching band.  Not necessarily what you’d describe as a call from God, but it wasn’t a wasted experience either.  I learned some facts about harmony that I’ll pass on to you.

Would you attend a concert of a hundred tubas?  Probably not.  But what band would be a band without a tuba?  Or a flute?  Or a trumpet?  Or a steady drum?  Get the idea?  The operative word is need.  They need each other.  By themselves they make music.  But together, they make magic.

What I saw decades ago in the marching band, I see today in the church.  We need each other.  Not all of us play the same instrument.  Not all of us make the same sound.  Some are soft, and others are loud. Some convert the lost.  Others encourage the saved.  And some keep the movement in step.  All are needed!

“ For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. Corinthians 12:12”

From: A Gentle Thunder

Tim Hawkins-Hand Raising and Sanitizer

Just Believe

Suppose you give me a gift.  Let’s say you present me with a new tie.  I take it out of the box, examine it and say thank you, and then reach for my wallet.  “Now, how much do I owe you?” I ask.  You think I’m kidding.

“It’s a gift,” you say.  “You don’t need to pay me.”

“I understand,” I respond, but then show I don’t by asking, “Could I write you a check?”

In trying to buy your gift, I’ve degraded your grace.  I’ve robbed you of the joy of giving.  How often we rob God.  Have you considered what an insult it is to God when we try to pay him for his goodness?  Sly is the scheme of Satan.  He causes us to question grace, to earn it.  What is it God wants us to do?  Just believe.  Believe the One he sent.  And receive the gift he gives.

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. John 6:29”

From: A Gentle Thunder

He Delights in You

It was a tense deacon’s meeting. Apparently there was more agitation than agreement, and after a lengthy discussion, someone suggested, “Why don’t we pray about it?”—to which another questioned: “Has it come to that?”

What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first?  I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance. We think, God doesn’t want to hear my problems. He’s got famine and the Mafia to deal with. I don’t want to trouble him with my mess.

The last thing you should worry about is being a nuisance to God.  If that’s your thought, may I share with you a favorite verse of mine?

“Because He delights in me, He saved me. Psalm 18:19 ”

God can live anywhere in the universe and he chooses to live in your heart.  He’s crazy about you!  Why don’t you talk to him?

From: A Gentle Thunder

Expectations for Marriage

Mark Gungor answers your questions!

This video covers if it's okay to have expectations for marriage. Nobody goes to the altar hoping they'll have an average life, or that they'll fail. Expectations are normal.

Watch the video for more of Mark's insights on this topic. This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 11-Nov-2012 - Pr. Sandy Haverfield

Speaker: Pastor Sandy Haverfield

http://www.mediafire.com/?bj7wsg111gb55cn

Negative Emotions: Gift From God?

Listening to Your Emotions
Why do we consider our emotions as an enemy? One reason is that we know our feelings change. The lift us up and they let us down. Our highs don't last, and our lows are painful. We conclude, therefore, that emotions are unreliable. Perhaps the chief reason is that negative emotions don't seem to fit with our idea of being a "good Christian." 

Anger, fear, disappointment, loneliness, frustration, depression, and sorrow don't fit the stereotype of successful Christian living. The fact is negative and positive emotions are morally neutral. It is what we do in response to our emotions that leads to good or bad. Negative emotions call for positive action. Positive emotions call us to celebrate. Take time to listen to your emotions. 

Jesus Had Emotions
Have you ever done a Bible study on emotions? When I wrote The Marriage You've Always Wanted Bible Study, I felt it important to include a chapter on "Becoming Friends with My Feelings" because I think many Christians have a distorted view of emotions. Many people are surprised to discover that Jesus felt depression. Read it for yourself in Matthew 26:36-46. 

We have wrongly concluded that negative emotions are from Satan. The Scriptures teach that emotions are a gift from God. They motivate us to take constructive action. Anger motivated Jesus to clear the temple of robbers and thieves. Emotions call us to engage the mind and to make wise decisions on what needs to be done. When we make wise decisions, emotions have served their purpose.

Please Pause for This Post-Election Prayer

After this bitterly divisive election, the Lord’s Prayer can reunite us. Please pray it often.

Election 2012 was a bitter contest. As of Wednesday night—when my home state of Florida was still counting ballots—President Obama had 59.6 million votes compared to Mitt Romney’s 56.9 million. Democrats still control the Senate and Republicans still control the House. The political gridlock of the past four years is here to stay.

We are a very, very divided nation. We are split on so many levels—young vs. old, urban vs. rural, white vs. black and white vs. Hispanic. Pollsters say Obama received fewer votes from white males than any president in recent elections. News analysts already are using terms like “the 50-50 nation” to describe our polarized condition.

"On the night of the election, as I pondered the depth of our national crisis, my heart was drawn to the profound authority of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to meditate on these words because they have the power to recalibrate our hearts and to refocus our priorities."

What is sad, to me, is that these divisions have fractured the church. I know of congregations where large numbers of African-Americans walked out because pastors urged their members to vote for Romney. Some Christians saw Romney as the only biblical values choice, while others couldn’t stomach the notion of a Mormon in the White House. Other Christians pushed for Obama because they believe his health care policies reflect Christian values.

A New Birth

God is often more patient with us than we are with ourselves.  We assume if we fall, we aren’t born again.  If we have the old desires, we must not be a new creation.

If you’re anxious please remember what Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”

In many ways your new birth is like your first.  In your new birth God provides what you need; someone else feels the pain, and someone else does the work.  And just as parents are patient with their newborn, so God is patient with you. But there’s one difference. The first time you had no choice about being born. This time you do.

The power is God’s. The effort is God’s. The pain is God’s. But the choice is yours.

From A Gentle Thunder

A New Heart

Society says change the outside and the inside will follow.  Give a person education, the right habits, the right disciplines, and the person will be changed.

Oh, we try.  Boy, do we try.  We buy clothes.  We seek degrees, awards, achievements.  But peel away the layers, and underneath you see our true nature:  a selfish, prideful, sinful heart.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot be in God’s kingdom. John 3:3″

At our “new birth” God remakes our souls and gives us what we need.  New eyes so we can see by faith. A new mind so we can have the mind of Christ. A new vision so we won’t lose heart. A new voice for praise and new hands for service.  And most of all, a new heart!

From: A Gentle Thunder

Christians On Message

It’s a political term to be sure. And haven’t we heard it ad nauseum over the last 18 months? Republicans attempting to stay “on message.” Democrats resolving to swing the party back “on message.” The phrase carries the idea of the central theme, the big points, the idea we exist to promote.

Avoid rabbit trails. Anchor to core values. Relentlessly promote unique ideas. Stay on message.

This morning–post-election morning–I’m wondering how we Christians are doing when it comes to staying on message? That question begs a prior one. What is our message? To ask the pundit on the internet, the Christian message is “pro-life, traditional marriage; more red than blue, more conservative than liberal.”

But is this our core message? Paddle upstream to the earliest framers of the Christian message. The story the first disciples were dying to tell was this: the grace of Jesus Christ.

“Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace….you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God…. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.” (Ephesians 2:5-10 NCV)

Behold the fruit of grace: raised by God, saved by God, seated with God. Gifted, equipped and commissioned. Grace is the word God uses to describe his radical commitment to redeem and restore to himself a people with whom he will reign forever. Grace changes everything! We are spiritually alive. Heavenly positioned. Connected to God. A billboard of mercy. An honored child. This is the “aggressive forgiveness called grace” (Rom. 5:20 MSG).

His Grace

I had planned to nap during my trip.  But the fellow next to me had other ideas!  Knowing I couldn’t sleep, I opened my Bible.

“What ya’ studying there, buddy?”  I told him, but he never heard.

“The church is lost,” he declared.  “Hellbound and heartsick.”   “Christians are asleep.  They don’t pray. They don’t  love. They don’t care.”  With that he began listing all the woes and weaknesses of the church.

I shouldn’t have let it bug me, but it did.  God’s faithfulness has never depended on the faithfulness of his children.  He is faithful even when we are not.  When we lack courage, he doesn’t.

I’ll probably never see that proclaimer of pessimism again, but if you do, will you give him a message for me?  God’s blessings are dispensed according to the riches of his grace, not according to the depth of our faith.

That’s what makes God…God!   And that is what makes the church strong.

From: A Gentle Thunder

The Power of Election Prayer

Let others lose sleep over the election.  Let others grow bitter from party or petty rivalries.  Let others cast their hope with the people of the elephant or the donkey.  Not followers of Jesus.  We place our trust in the work of God.

How many kings has he seen come and go?  How many nations has he seen stand and fall?  He is above them all.  And he oversees them all.  So, while others get anxious, we don’t. Here is what we do:  we pray.

“First of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  (1 Tim.2:1-4 NIV).

It is time to take this job seriously.  Over the next hours and days ahead, turn your heart toward heaven and ask God to:

• Unite our country
• Strengthen us
• Appoint and anoint our next president

God’s promise is clear:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  (2 Chron. 7:14 NIV).

Only God can unite the nations. On this election day, let’s ask him to do just that with ours.

We Like Sheep

Sheep aren’t smart. They tend to wander into running creeks for water, then their wool grows heavy and they drown. They have no sense of direction. They need a shepherd to lead them to calm water.

So do we! We, like sheep, tend to be swept away by waters we should have avoided. We have no defense against the evil lion who prowls about seeking whom he might devour.

Isaiah 53:6 reminds us, “We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.”  We need a shepherd to care for us and to guide us. And Jesus is that Good Shepherd. The Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. The Shepherd who protects, provides, and possesses his sheep. The Psalmist says: The Lord is my shepherd!  The imagery is carried over to the New Testament as Jesus is called the good shepherd of the sheep!

Jesus said, “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. John 10:14-15”

From A Gentle Thunder

You Need to Take from a Man

Mark Gungor answers your questions!

Women are givers, men are takers. If a woman wants something from a man, she needs to take it, not expect him to give it to her without prompting. Women often think that "if he really loved me, I wouldn't have to ask," an idealistic concept that doesn't hold up.

This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 4-Nov-2012 - Pr. Dorai Manikam

Speaker: Elder Pastor Dorai Manikam
Full Gospel Assembly Kuala Lumpur

http://www.mediafire.com/?4w8mre2llwwxwrd

A Hero in the Bible

Behold a hero of the west.  A thousand head of cattle pass behind him. He needs no one.  He’s a cowboy.  The American hero.

Behold a hero in the Bible:  the shepherd.  He too is rugged.  Like the cowboy he makes his roof the stars and the pasture his home.

But that’s where the similarities end. The shepherd loves his sheep.  The cowboy leads the cow to slaughter.  The cowboy drives the cattle.  The shepherd leads the sheep. The shepherd calls each sheep by name.  Aren’t we glad Christ didn’t call Himself the Good Cowboy?

Psalm 100:3 says,  “Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

We don’t need a cowboy to herd us.  We need a shepherd.  A shepherd to care for us and to guide us.  And we have One.  One who knows us by name.

From A Gentle Thunder

Where is God in this Storm?

*Like many of you, I have spent the last few hours with an eye on the television screen. The devastation is stunning. Many questions are circling. “How long will this last?” “How extensive is the damage?” “Will the storm have an impact on the Presidential election?”

There is a more fundamental question that is surfacing; not on the newscasts, but in the hearts of victims and viewers. “Where is God in this storm?”

The disciples of Jesus asked an identical question. “Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side….He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now, when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” (Mt. 14:22-24)

What we have seen off America’s eastern coast, the disciples saw on the Galilean Sea. Tall, angry waves. Their fishing boat bounced and spun on the white-tops. The sky rumbled above them, the water churned beneath them. And I wonder if they asked, “Where is Jesus? He told us to get into the boat. Now we are alone in the storm? Where is he?”

The answer? Praying. “He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.” Jesus made intercession His priority. Did He know about the storm? Could He feel the winds? And see the thunder? No doubt. When He sensed the danger, He chose to pray.

5 "Aha" Marriage Tips You Need to Know: Part 5

#5 - Admitting my own imperfections does not mean that I am a failure.

Most troubled marriages include a stone wall between husband and wife, built over the years. Each stone represents an event in the past where one of them has failed the other. These are things about which people talk when they sit in the counseling office.

The husband complains, "She has always been critical of everything I do.  I've never been able to please her." The wife complains, "He's married to his job. He has no time for me or the children. I feel like a widow." This wall of hurt and disappointment stands as a barrier to marital unity.

Demolishing this emotional wall is essential for rebuilding a troubled marriage. Admitting your part in building this wall, does not make you a failure. It means that you are human and are willing to admit your humanity. Confessing past failures is the first step toward a growing marriage.
 

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 

Continue the conversation: Share your questions, thoughts insights, or comments by joining the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/5lovelanguages  

Why So Few?

I’ve often thought it curious how few people Jesus raised from the dead. He healed hundreds, fed thousands, but as far as we know He only raised three: the daughter of Jairus, the boy near Nain, and Lazarus. Why so few?

Could it be because He knew He’d be doing them no favors?
Could it be because He couldn’t get any volunteers?
Could it be that once someone is there, the last place they want to return to is here?

Isaiah said: The good men perish; the godly die before their time and no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to realize that God is taking them away from the evil days ahead. For the godly who die will rest in peace.
Isaiah 57:1

What a thought. Could death be God’s grace? God’s protection from the future? Trust in God, Jesus urges, and trust in Me!

From A Gentle Thunder

From Dead Religion to a Revitalized Church

God wants to breathe new life into struggling congregations.

When I met Jason Cook three years ago he was a discouraged Bible college graduate. He had experienced failure in his personal life, and he had disappointed the leaders he served. Even though he still had a strong desire to be in ministry, the 27-year-old paid his bills by waiting tables at a seafood restaurant in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Jason could have dropped off the spiritual map like so many people his age who have abandoned faith or given up on the church. But a miracle of grace unfolded.

“We are entering a season of revitalization. Don’t miss this moment. Churches can experience new life and new growth if we are willing to uncork the new wine of change.”

Jason shook free from his discouragement, and he was eventually invited to pastor a struggling Pentecostal Holiness church in Conway, about 15 miles from Myrtle Beach. The congregation had shrunk to 35. A few older members of the church resisted when Jason tried to introduce new music and an innovative ministry style—but then new people began to show up, and people in the community began to find Jesus through Jason’s passionate preaching and the church’s outreach.

The church has now grown to 170 in a year.

The Holy Spirit

If I were to ask you to describe your heavenly Father, you’d give me a response.  If I were to ask you to tell me what Jesus did for you, you’d likely give a cogent answer.  But if I were to ask about the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. . .?  Eyes would duck.  Throats would be cleared.

John 14:17 says, “The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him.  But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you.”

What does the Spirit do? Scripture says He comforts the saved.  He convicts the lost.  He conveys the truth.  Have you ever been convicted? Ever sensed a stab of sorrow for your actions? Understood a new truth?  Then you’ve been touched by the Holy Spirit.

What do you know?  He’s been working in your life already.

From A Gentle Thunder

Tailor-Made

Lucille Ball said the secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.  It’s hard to lie about the obvious.  When you’re young you make a lot of faces in the mirror.  When you’re old the mirror gets even.

Growing older.  Aging.  We laugh about it and we groan about it.  We resist it, but we can’t stop it.  And with the chuckles and wrinkles come some serious thoughts and questions about what happens when we die.

God is doing what any father would do.  He’s providing a better place for us.  A place to rest.  A place He has prepared for us.  Heaven isn’t mass-produced; it’s tailor-made. We must trust God.  We must trust not only that He does what is best, but that He knows what’s ahead.

This world wears like a borrowed shirt.  Heaven will fit like one tailor-made!

From A Gentle Thunder

God Loves You Still

We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us.  We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us. And if He doesn’t give us what we want, we say He doesn’t exist.  God has every reason to abandon us. I sure would. I’d wash my hands of the whole mess and start over.  But does He?

You think you’ve committed an act that places you outside His love?  You think He’d love you more if you hadn’t done it, right?  You think He would love you more if you did more, right?  Wrong.  Wrong.  God’s love sees your sin and loves you still.  Do you need to repent?  Yes.  But do you repent for His sake or yours?  Yours!

God’s love needs no bolstering.  And He could not love you more than He does right now.

“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 8:38-39)

From: A Gentle Thunder

Ripping the Heart Out of Sunday Worship

by Tony Reinke

Why do we attend church on Sundays? Fundamentally, we come to church starved for God. Coming with our need, we seek God in our worship and in hearing the word faithfully preached. We arrive at church with a God-sized appetite for spiritual pleasures that only the Living God can fill.

But is it honorable to find our motivation to get to church in seeking blessing from God? Or is that a selfishness that spoils the whole morning and embarrases God? Isn’t it more honorable to arrive at church with disinterested motives?

Pastor John says no. Here’s why.
Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher who died in 1804, was the most powerful exponent of the notion that the moral value of an act decreases as we aim to derive any benefit from it. Acts are good if the doer is "disinterested." We should do the good because it is good. Any motivation to seek joy or reward corrupts the act.

Piper goes on to explain what’s on the line.

Kant loves a disinterested giver. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Disinterested performance of duty displeases God. He wills that we delight in doing good and that we do it with the confidence that our obedience secures and increases our joy in God.

We Are God’s Idea

Why does a mother love her newborn child?  Because the baby is hers?  Even more so… because the baby is her!  Her blood.  Her flesh. Her hope.  Her legacy.  It doesn’t bother her that the baby gives nothing.  She knows a newborn is helpless, weak.  She knows babies don’t ask to come into this world.  And God knows we didn’t either.

We are God’s idea.  We are His.  His face.  His eyes.  His hands.  Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see His likeness.  Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. We are, incredibly, the body of Christ.  And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this:  We are His.  Unalterably.  He loves us.  Undyingly.

And Scripture says, “not height nor depth, not any other created thing…nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” (Romans 8:39)

I’d be a fool not to believe Him.

From: A Gentle Thunder

Do Spouses Need to do the Same Things?

Mark Gungor answers your questions!

This video covers if spouses really need to do everything together or if it's okay to have different interests.

This is bonus content from Mark Gungor's Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminar, to purchase the complete seminar please visit http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Sunday Sermon - 28-Oct-2012 - Pr Benaiah Naresh

Speaker: Pastor Benaiah Naresh
NECF Associate Member

http://www.mediafire.com/?29lu38wk7o9p28t

Our Feet in His Hands

“Jesus poured water into a bowl and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel wrapped around Him.” (John 13:5)

We say, “No!  Don’t wash their feet, Jesus.  Tell them to wash Yours!”  Do we object because we don’t want to see God washing feet?  Or do we object because we don’t want to do the same?

Logic says, “Put up your fists.”  Jesus says, “Fill up the basin.”
Logic says, “She doesn’t deserve it.” Jesus says, “You’re right, but you don’t, either.”

I don’t understand how God can be so kind to us, but he is.  He kneels before us, takes our dirty feet in his hands, and washes them.  Not from our dirt, but from our sins.  And the cleansing isn’t just a gesture; it’s a necessity.  We cannot cleanse our own filth.  We cannot remove our own sin.  Our feet must be in His hands.

Would you let him wash your feet today?

From: A Gentle Thunder

Reaching Today’s AWOL Generation

Why have so many young Christians today left the church? It’s partly because we haven’t been good mentors.

I love all four Gospels, but Mark is my favorite. I describe it as the Gospel for teenagers—or for anyone with a short attention span. It is the shortest account of Jesus’ ministry, and the most fast-paced. It is focused on Jesus’ actions, not His sermons, and the word immediately appears in it 47 times. If a movie were based on Mark it would be a noisy action flick, complete with screaming demons, instantaneous healings and rioting crowds.

But what I love most about Mark is the back story of its author—who is sometimes referred to as John Mark. He is young when we first see him in Scripture. He was related to Barnabas and closely associated with Peter. (Scholars believe Mark’s Gospel is based on what Peter dictated to him). Yet Mark created an embarrassing dilemma for the apostle Paul. We are told that Paul separated from Barnabas in Antioch because Mark deserted the team (see Acts 15:37-40).

"Everywhere I go today I remind churches and denominational leaders that we are completely missing the boat if we aren’t investing the bulk of our time discipling a new generation. The church is graying, and many young people have checked out because our approach to ministry has become totally irrelevant to them.” 

We can speculate about what caused this conflict. We don’t really know why Mark went AWOL. Did he fear persecution? Did he wimp out because he missed his mother’s cooking back in Jerusalem? Or did he go through a period of rebellion? Perhaps. But in the end, the prodigal came home. The epistle of Philemon says Mark began traveling with Paul again (v. 23).

Jesus Prayed

Much of life is spent getting out of bed.  Fixing lunches.  Turning in assignments. Changing diapers.  Paying bills. Routine.  Regular.  More struggle than strut.

You thought marriage was going to be a lifelong date?  You thought having kids was going to be like baby-sitting?  You thought the company who hired you wanted to hear all the ideas you had in college? Then you learned otherwise.  The honeymoon ended.

But at the right time, God comes.  In the right way, He appears. So don’t bail out.  Don’t give up.  He is too wise to forget you, too loving to hurt you.  When you can’t see Him, trust Him.

So what does God do while we’re enduring the pain?  Mark 6:46 says, “Jesus prayed.”  He prayed for His disciples when they were in the storm.  And when He heard their cries, He remained in prayer.

He’s praying a prayer right now that He Himself will answer at the right time.

“Jesus is able always to save those who come to God through him because he always lives, asking God to help them.” (Hebrews 7:24-25)

From: A Gentle Thunder

Just Row

It’s one thing to suffer for doing wrong.  Something else entirely to suffer for doing right.  But it happens.  And when the storm bursts, it washes away the naïve assumption that if I do what is right, I will never suffer.

Just ask the faithful couple whose crib is empty.  Just ask the business person whose honest work was rewarded with runaway inflation.  Just ask the student who took a stand for the truth and got mocked.

And like the disciples in the boat, they wonder, “Why the storm, and where is Jesus?” (John 6:19)

It’s bad enough to be in the storm, but to be in the storm alone?  So where does that leave us?  It’s simple.  We do what the disciples did.  We row the boat.  Oh there are moments of glamour, days of celebration.  But we also have our share of baloney sandwiches.  And to have the first we must endure the second.  We row the boat.

“God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them.” (Luke 18:7)

From: A Gentle Thunder

Don’t Go Sexless—Part Two

by Mark Gungor 

In my last post, I began explaining a simple solution to head off the problem of sexless marriage.  I pointed out how couples, generally, get to sexless when one person unilaterally decides to say, “no” to the sexual advances of the other—and sometimes for legitimate reasons. But I went on to reason that simply saying, “no” isn’t the answer and that it will actually work against getting the improvements you want in the relationship.  You need to answer a request for sex from your spouse with some version of “yes”. If you haven’t read Part One, (add link) do so before you continue on.

Let’s go back to the previous examples I gave in Part One—lack of hygiene and when the sex is “one sided”—to address how to use my “some version of yes” solution. If your hubby can’t seem to find the shower or toothbrush prior to jumping into bed for a session of lovemaking, don’t roll over in a huff and bark, “No! Get away!” at him, or pretend you are already sleeping. Simply smile and say, “Yes, dear! I’ll rock your world, just as soon as you shower and brush your teeth. Come see me when you’re squeaky clean, and I’ll put a big ol’ grin on your face.” See, the solution? Do you see how it will end in an entirely different way? For the wife to just say, “no” and roll over leaves the poor guy shot down in flames and leads to ill feelings and a strained relationship for both of you.

Yeah, yeah, I know you women say, “He should just know that I want him clean and spruced up.” Ladies, sometimes guys don’t think about everything like you do and we need reminding. Honestly, you may have to repeat the scenario a few times, but eventually he should get the message and hopefully catch on quickly to the fact that approaching you smelling clean from the shower, with minty fresh breath will be a green light for him.

Standing in the Need of Prayer

Eddie & Alice Smith

Job's friends are an example of how not to treat a friend in need. What can we learn from them about how to pray for those we love?

Those of you who know the story of Job, the righteous man God bragged about to Satan, will remember that God gave Satan license to afflict Job. Job lost his possessions and his health. His seven sons and three daughters, for whom he had interceded daily, pleading their cases before God as a defense attorney might plead their cases in court, were killed in a freakish windstorm (see Job 1:18-19).

His wife lost her confidence in the Lord and any respect she had for her husband. She eventually encouraged him to forget his integrity, to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9).

But one of the greatest losses to Job was the loss of relationships. Job’s friends became a burden rather than a blessing. Those who should have been sensitive to his need and supportive in their actions during his time of trial only added to his burden. Interestingly, each of them represents a type of friend no one wants when going through trial.

Let’s look at Job’s friends. Perhaps in them we will learn the behaviors to avoid when our friends are suffering trials. We can develop an earnest desire to become effective prayer advocates when others have walked away.

Come and See

Nathanael said to Philip,  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Philip answered, “Come and see.” (John 1:46)

The question about Jesus still lingers.  And the answer of Philip still suffices.  Come and see.  Come and see what Christ has done.

See Wilberforce fighting to free slaves in England—because he believed.  See Handel weeping as he composes The Messiah.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  Come and see.  Come and see the changed lives:  the alcoholic now dry; the embittered now joyful, the shamed now forgiven.  Come and see the marriages rebuilt, the orphans embraced, the imprisoned inspired.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  Come and see. Come and see the tomb. The tomb once occupied, now vacant; the grave once sealed, now empty.

Yes, come and see!

From: A Gentle Thunder

It’s Just Like Him

Think for a moment about your world.  Remember that voice, that face, that event?  Wasn’t there a time for you—maybe the birth of your child?   The tears of the widower?  The explosion of a sunset?  The impassioned sermon?   Wasn’t there a time when you heard God speak?

It isn’t the circumstance that matters; it’s God in the circumstance.  It isn’t the words; it’s God speaking them.  It wasn’t the mud that healed the eyes of the blind man; it was the finger of God in the mud.  The cradle and the cross were as common as grass.  What made them holy was the One laid upon them.

God speaks to us.   He may use a sermon.  He may inspire a conversation.  He may speak through a song.  He may even speak through this brief message.  But, isn’t that just like Him?  Oh, the lengths to which God will go to get our attention and win our affection! Listen to Him.

“Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)

From: A Gentle Thunder