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.