I am a follower of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I love to enjoy God's creation by being outdoors! I am blessed to be married to a wonderful Godly wife for 8.5 yrs who loves, prays, and encourages me! God has granted me the abilities to work in IT as a developer. Only by the strength of God I was able to graduate from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a Bachelors in Business Administrator/CIS...He pushed me every STEP of the way! When men counted me out as lost, Jesus raised me up to be a child of God, grafted me into the manicured olive branch, anointed me to be a part of a holy priesthood, and called me to serve Him at all costs. Jesus knows my shortcomings but instead of casting me out He draws me closer to Him and chooses to use me! He has not called me to perfection but to an intimate relationship with Him, the creator of the Universe! I am nobody, no greater than any man, my accomplishments are not my own but have been given to me by the Father. By my very nature I was destined to failure but by the grace of God I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ who strengthens me!
I am not for sure how many people read my blog but was wanting to let everyone know I haven’t stopped blogging just I have been so busy working that I have not had time to blog. It will probably be late February until I am able to start blogging more regularly again. Hope everyone has a blessed day/week/month!!
Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. — Matthew 26:49
The worst kind of sin is the kind committed by someone who doesn’t think he really is a sinner. It was Cicero who said, “Of all villainy, there is none more base than that of the hypocrite, who at the moment he is most false, takes care to appear most virtuous.”
Think for a moment about a garden-variety sinner. Then think of someone who attends church every week. Is it possible that a person in the church pew could be in worse shape than a garden-variety sinner? It is possible. Here’s how: If the person who is an unbeliever recognizes that fact, there is hope that one day he or she will come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, turn from a sinful lifestyle, and believe in Jesus. But the person who attends church every week with no intention of responding to what he or she is hearing is actually a hypocrite.
It is better to just be what you are. It is better to say, “I am not into this. I don’t believe in this. I don’t care about this … ” than to pretend to be spiritual when you are not. God hates hypocrisy.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t be inconsistent at times. It doesn’t mean that you won’t fall short at times. We all have had moments of hypocrisy. But a hypocrite is someone who wears a mask, someone who pretends to be someone they really are not.
The hypocrite extraordinaire, if you will, was Judas Iscariot. When he betrayed Jesus, he did so with a kiss. He could have just pointed and said, “There is Jesus. My job is done.” But he kissed Him. At the moment when he appeared to be the most virtuous, he was the most sinful. And that is lying to God.
By Greg Laurie,
http://www.harvest.org/
David Platt
I frequently ask myself what I have recently done that has made a difference for Christ. How has my life impacted the lives of those around me, workplace, church, wal-mart, going out to eat, the needy, etc?
The concept of my life is not my own is a hard one to swallow sometimes or overlooked because all the distractions in life. I get so busy but I tend to get numb to the fragility of life and how quickly it could be taken from me…we all know people whether friends, loved ones, neighbors, schoolmates, etc who has passed prematurely. What man or woman actually has control of their life? We can only control our reactions to the circumstances around us and that is it!
When I think Christ gave His life so that I might have life eternally with Him and I wonder what the proper response is? Would it be okay for me to continue to live my life selfishly? Keeping this gift of salvation to myself? Being unthankful for the blessings I already have and always wanting more?
So if Christian = Christ-like, do these behaviors reflect Christ? What are some of the characteristics of Christ? Patient, kind, not envious, humble, not boastful, polite, serving, not easily angered, always forgiving keeping no records of wrong, rejoices in truth and does not delight in evil, trusting, hopeful, and perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13 uses these actions to describe love. So simply said Christ is love and we should demonstrate the same characteristics in our lives to reflect Christ.
1 Corinthians 13 has always been a chapter that stands out from the rest to me! In the church world, especially the Pentecostal denominations I see so many people talk about prophecy, healings, tongues, stories of Christ rising people from the dead, demonic powers, knowledge, end-times, and any other interesting gift or fascinating ideas. I have seen people step out into side groups, claiming to have a better understanding of the word and that their interpretation of scripture allows them to get closer to God or whatever! The problems I find with these concepts is when people talk about them and begin to desire them, it is for Pride and they don’t always envision God using them but them doing it and controlling the “POWER” that has come upon them.
I am guessing you are wondering what my point is, here it is! The whole Bible reflects the same characteristic of Christ that we are supposed to have, LOVE. This is what this Chapter is telling us, I believe it is the so called secret to how to Make a Difference for Christ!
So when I ask myself if, how has my life made a difference for Christ? How has my life impacted the lives of those around me? My answer is by demonstrating the love that Christ for me, shining through me into the lives of those around me. You want to know how to evangelize the world and witness, love them by serving them, listening to them, and becoming friends with them! Who is this “them” I am referring to, well it is everyone from the lost, babies in Christ, mature in Christ, needy, poor, unclothed, imprisoned, the hungry, the thirsty, and the homeless (Matthew 25:31-40). Love is not an option but a command, “
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
And according to Christ, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
I will close by answering some questions I posed earlier…
Would it be okay for me to continue to live my life selfishly? No
Keeping this gift of salvation to myself? No
Being unthankful for the blessings I already have and always wanting more? No
From my interpretation of scripture to continue to live life with the characteristics above 1 does not show Christ we love Him since He said if you will love me obey what I command…and I do not see how if I love others I could keep the gospel of the Love of Christ from them!
What is the proper response to His love? Is to share his love by my speech and actions! By demonstrating His love to others to the best of my ability.
Today could be our last day on earth, our loved ones last day, so appreciate everything moment with your loved ones and take advantage of spreading the Gospel of Christ while you can!
MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR CHRIST THROUGH LOVE!
**REMEMBER OUR ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY IS GROWING THE KINGDOM OF GOD, THE BODY OF CHRIST, AND NOT OUR LOCAL CHURCH…BREAK OUTSIDE OF THE 4 WALLS AND LOVE SOMEBODY!**
1. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children’s art. We don’t have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
2. Don’t write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.
3. When an I.T. person says he’s coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won’t be there when we need your password. It’s nothing for us to remember 700 screen saver passwords.
4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what’s keeping you from getting it. We don’t need to know that you can’t get into your mail because your computer won’t power on at all.
5. When I.T. support sends you an E-Mail with high importance, delete it at once. We’re just testing.
6. When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
7. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
8. When the photocopier doesn’t work, call computer support. There’s electronics in it.
9. When something’s wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person’s chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.
10. When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens don’t have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
11. When an I.T. person tells you that he’ll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: “And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?” That motivates us.
12. When the printer won’t print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.
13. When the printer still won’t print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.
14. Don’t learn the proper term for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by “My thingy blew up”.
