How to Find a Healthy Church

How to Find a Healthy Church
"These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." - Acts 1:14a

I'm often asked if you have to go to church to be a Christian. Well, the answer is no, but to grow in your spiritual relationship in Christ, you need (and should want) to associate with a solid, healthy church. How can you identify a healthy church? One of the best ways is to find one that is firmly planted in prayer. This is a critical indicator of a healthy church because the Christian church actually began though a prayer meeting. After Christ's resurrection, He spent 40 days with His disciples explaining what the mission of the church should be. Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait in the upper room. They were in the upper room for ten days—in a ten-day prayer meeting asking for God's guidance and waiting for God to lead them. God responded powerfully with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The church actually originated from a prayer meeting of waiting on God.

Throughout scripture, we see that Jesus was quite clear that His house was to be a house of prayer. Throughout His mission on earth, Jesus regularly immersed Himself with prayer, setting the example for His followers. Jesus taught us how to pray. And His church was founded on prayer. So, you can find a healthy church by seeing how they follow the example of Jesus. A starting point of a healthy church begins with prayer.
In Christ

God's Nature, Not His Visual Image

God's Nature, Not His Visual Image
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. And let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' - Genesis 1:26

What do you think it means that man was made in God's image? Does it mean that God has two arms, two legs and a long flowing beard as depicted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? (Of note, Michelangelo also painted a belly button on God, something that really makes no sense on so many levels.) No, Scripture does not imply a visual duplication of God; instead it refers to the nature of God. Like God, man can think and reason. We appreciate beauty and language. And unlike animals, we have an inner sense of morality and the ability to grasp deep concepts. This gives man the ability to commune with God, and that is the real reason God made us in His image. He desires a relationship with you and wants to fellowship with all mankind.

In the same passage, God addresses our relationship with the earth. One reason God made us in His image is that we are responsible for caring for all of God's creation. We're to be an intermediary between God and all of His creation. How can we manage it unless we stay close to God; unless we think like God; unless we're able to fulfill the will of God? Part of having a relationship with God is having the right relationship with His creation. This just can't be said enough: Being created in His image is an awesome gift, as well as a sacred responsibility.
In Christ

There's No Sin in Doubting

There's No Sin in Doubting
"...blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed." - John 20:29b

Do you sometimes worry about your faith because you find yourself questioning some events in the scriptures? Let's be honest - seas parting, a fish swallowing a grown man, the turning of water into wine, Jesus rising from the dead; sometimes biblical events can test your capacity for belief. But realize that you are in some pretty good company. Everyone has doubts. Take the claim of the virgin birth. Not only have many people had their disbeliefs, so did Joseph and Mary!

How did Mary respond when told she was going to birth the Son of God? After the initial shock was absorbed, she immediately began to argue with an angel! Right off the bat she asked the angel what she considered a rhetorical question: "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" That angel must have had a mighty convincing answer to that question! Mary doubted, but then believed the Word of God through the angel.

And when Mary told Joseph, he didn't buy it for a minute. He knew he wasn't the daddy and immediately made plans to dump her. Once again, it took an angel to convince him that Mary was telling the truth. Joseph doubted and then believed the Word of God through the angel.

So, if you find yourself feeling guilty for harboring occasional doubts, relax. You are in good company. There is no sin in doubting. Doubts only become sin when we begin to believe them as fact. And we are more fortunate than Mary and Joseph with the claims about Jesus' virgin birth. We don't need angels. We have the written, historical Word of God.

TO GOD be the GLORY.

The Freedom to Let It Go

The Freedom to Let It Go
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." - Colossians 3:13

Question: Is there someone you've been unwilling to forgive? Who is it that comes to mind? Now, I assure you in some situations, you âre not going to be able to forgive people in your own strength. The hurt is too deep. We need to ask God to help us do what we cannot do. Ask for His supernatural power to begin to forgive that person.

You see, unwillingness to forgive is unwillingness to give control to God. Leave "getting even" up to Him. In fact, the Bible tells us, "'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19) How do you know when forgiveness is complete? For me, it's when I âm able to see that person without having a knot in the pit of my stomach. There's no sense of bitterness or resentment  just acceptance. Does that mean you merely trust them? Oh no - it's even greater than that. You choose to love them. It's a great miracle that God brings about when we ask His help in forgiving others.

If you âre really struggling in this area, remember, Jesus is our ultimate example. Nobody was more innocent than Jesus. He had no sin. We murdered Him with our sins on the cross. And while we were murdering Him, He said, Father, forgive them. If Jesus can forgive us for that, then through His power, we can forgive others who have wronged us, no matter how awful the deed. Ask God to help you do this today. You won't believe the freedom you will find once you let go.

In Christ

And He Walked Right Through the Gate

And He Walked Right Through the Gate
"And he (Peter) went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision." - Acts 12:9

Dana Curry and Heather Mercer, missionaries to Afghanistan, tell of Qalzai, a man that their ministry brought to Christ. As with many Muslims who convert, he was arrested, tossed into a prison cell, beaten daily, and left to await his almost-certain execution.

One night, our new Christian brother dreamed that a large strong-looking man surrounded by a glowing light suddenly appeared in his cell. The man led him out of the cell, into the prison courtyard, and out the front gates. When Qalzai awoke, he immediately assumed that it had all been just a dream and was understandably depressed. But then, as he sat up, he noticed that his cell door was open. He didn't see a guard anywhere, so he began to think, "Hey, maybe God is up to something here!" He walked out of his cell, into the courtyard, and right through the unlocked front gate of the prison. Qalzai had experienced a miracle exactly like the one that Peter did two thousand years earlier. They had both witnessed the supernatural power of God.

God's supernatural power is still right here, right now. Keep your eyes open, so you don't miss it.
Yes  God's Supernatural Power is stil at work, Today.
"CC"

Why Did God Let This Happen?

Why Did God Let This Happen?
For as through the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be righteous. - Romans 5:19

September 11, 2011, marks the tenth anniversary of the terrible events of September 11, 2001. And even now, after ten years, one of the most common questions I hear is, How could a loving God allow so much suffering and evil in the world? How could He have allowed this horrible thing happen to us?"

Those are tough to answer. Philosophers and theologians have struggled with this forever. There is no completely adequate answer, but its important to remember that God is blamed for a lot of things that man does wrong on his own.

When God created man, He gave us all a free will. He didnt program us as robots to always do whats right or what He wants. Robots have no choice, but humans do. We can choose to trust and obey God, or we can do things our own way.

From the first man and woman, each person has chosen to go his or her own way, rather than Gods way. The result of mans sin is disease, suffering, and death.

God did something pretty dramatic to confront the problem: He humbled Himself to become one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, to show us how to live. Even more, Christ came to die for us. Through faith in Him, one person at a time, maybe we, as a nation, can begin to reverse this cycle of evil and suffering.

To God be the Glory.

Enjoy

To those I keep in touch with regularly - enjoy.  To those who I send to occasionally - I think of you much more often than you know.  Be sure to click on the D .  The older I get and, especially when you've lost someone for one reason or another who is dear to you, the more  this is true.  So, 'dance' while you can.


Click on the D in dancing below. . . . (I hope you can open it 'cuz it's really        cute).  

Dancing http://www.libertyhigh56.net/special%20pages/dancing.htm

Are You Sure That's What it Says?

Are You Sure That's What it Says?
"'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" - Genesis 3:4

There are a lot of religious fanatics out there spouting strange doctrine. At first, they may actually sound reasonable, because they quote from the Bible. But the problem is, these false prophets will take a verse out of context and base their whole theology around it. While this is often done unintentionally, there are some that will twist a few words on purpose, resulting in an interpretation bearing no resemblance, whatsoever, to God's actual message.

This is an effective technique that the devil has mastered well. Think about the consequences for mankind when the devil twisted God's words in the Garden of Eden! And remember how Satan tried to tempt Jesus in the beginning of His ministry? He twisted the word of God just a little bit, making it seem that He was saying the exact opposite of the actual meaning.

How can you defend this prostitution of God's word? Always study Scripture in light of Scripture. Study the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. Study the Gospels in light of the Epistles, so that you can have the theological and doctrinal understanding of the life of Christ, why He came, what He's all about. You want to study a verse in the context of the chapter, and in the context of the book. The more you study the Bible, the easier it will be to defend yourself from false - or ignorant - prophets.

In Christ

But i can't see God

But, I Can't See God
"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."" - Psalm 91:2

Isn't it amazing all the people we entrust our lives to every week? We trust pharmacists to give us the right pills from a prescription we can't read. We trust pilots we don't know to fly us to the right destination, believing that they know how to fly that baby exactly where we need to go. As we sit in traffic on the interstate, we trust our lives to engineers and road construction crews, believing the bridges will hold.

Yet, people have trouble trusting God.

They often say, "I can't see Him." Do we see the engineers who designed the bridge? Do we know the pilots? Not usually. Yet God, our Creator who loves us more than anyone, who even sacrificed His Son for us to have forgiveness of sin and eternal life, we find Him difficult to trust.

It's amazing. It doesn't make sense to trust imperfect men and not to trust a perfect God.
In Christ