What To Believe...

I love the following two quotes from Ravi Zacharias:

“We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.”

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”

Washington State

I was moving some pictures from a flash drive to a hard drive and came across these pictures of a trip a few years ago to the Pacific Northwest. 

Theological Term of the Day

Foundationalism

Foundationalism is the philosophical position dealing with epistemology (the study of knowing) which asserts that there are essential beliefs that must be known and/or assumed before other truths can be known since those truths are built upon the essential beliefs.  The essential beliefs are said to be self evident and are acquired through the senses and/or reason.

CARM.org

Today's Prayer

I'll Try!

Lord,

I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail,

Than attempt to do nothing and succeed!

I'll try - with your help!

Amen.

Positive Prayers for Power-Filled Living.

Spiritual Leadership

A great example of Spiritual Leadership in the Home is Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan Preacher from the 1700s.  Jonathan and his wife Sarah left a great godly legacy for his 11 children.

At the turn of the 20th century, American educator and pastor A.E. Winship decided to trace out the descendants of Jonathan Edwards almost 150 years after his death.  His findings are astounding, especially when compared to a man known as Max Jukes.  Jukes’ legacy came to the forefront when the family trees of 42 different men in the New York prison system traced back to him.

Jonathan Edwards’ godly legacy includes:

1 U.S. Vice-President,
3 U.S. Senators,
3 governors,
3 mayors,
13 college presidents,
30 judges,
65 professors,
80 public office holders,
100 lawyers and
100 missionaries.

Max Jukes’ descendants included:

7 murderers,
60 thieves,
50 women of debauchery,
130 other convicts.
310 paupers (with over 2,300 years lived in poorhouses)
400 who were physically wrecked by indulgent living.

It was estimated that Max Juke’s descendants cost the state more than $1,250,000.

This is a powerful example showing how a parent’s leadership can

have a profound effect on their children.

Taken from unlockingthebible.org

Theological Term of the Day

Fool

Hater of God. One who is morally weak, who misuses what God has given him for selfish purposes. He is lustful (Prov. 7:22), lazy (Eccl. 10:15), does not fear God (Prov. 14:2), hates knowledge (Prov. 1:22), and is self-righteous (Prov. 12:15). As Christians, we are to avoid foolishness (Eph. 5:4). (See Eccl. 7:25; Prov. 3:35, 10:8.)

 CARM.org

Discipleship Article

The following is an excerpt of an article from Mike Breen about discipleship. I thought it was very good and wanted to pass it on to my friends who are Jesus Followers.

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If we want to know how Jesus discipled people and how the early church (including Paul) certainly seemed to disciple people, this is what we need to know: Discipleship requires imitation. This is the nitty gritty of what it means to be a learner.

Jesus asked his disciples to imitate His life. That was His process. It was how He passed on the "DNA."

Our lives don’t have to be perfect, or close to perfect, for us to begin multiplying the life we have in Jesus into others. But people desperately need a flesh-and-blood example to look at, watch, ask questions, receive teaching and apprentice themselves to. If they are struggling to read Scripture, it’s not enough to toss someone a book on reading the Bible or point them to a podcast.

We don’t simply tell people to pray; we teach them to pray as we pray. We don’t just instruct people to forgive; we show them what it looks like to forgive when we’ve been stabbed in the back. In the end, we need to be at a place of enough stability and maturity in our own spiritual lives that we are confident it would be a good thing if people did imitate us. This is the way of discipleship.

Today's Prayer

Sunshine

Like a fresh
burst of golden sunshine that
dissolves the gloomy fog
and makes the glistening grass
sparkle with a green sheen,
so, Lord, you have come
into my mind
at the opening of a new day
assuring me that life is going
to be beautiful. 
It's going to be one of my
great days - after all!
Amen.

Positive Prayers for Power-Filled Living.

Theological Term of the Day

Fornication

Fornication (Greek ‘porneia’) is voluntary sexual relations between two people who are not married to each other and are also not married to anyone else.

The word "fornication" is the Greek "porneia," πορνεία, and occurs in six places:  Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21; John 8:41; Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25.  The term "sexual immorality" is the Greek word "pornos," πόρνος and occurs twice in 1 Cor. 6:9; Heb. 13:4.
The Bible speaks of spiritual fornication as worshiping any God besides the true and living God:  Judges 2:17; Jer. 3:8; Rev. 14:8; 17:2; 18:3; 19:2.

Adultery occurs when a married person voluntarily has sexual relations with another person who was not his or her spouse.

Rape is the involuntary force of sexual relations upon another person and against the will of that person.

CARM.org

A LOT Changes in 5 years! ANSWERS

 Any guesses where this is at?

Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village, Disney World

 No one was hurt this time!

Which ones are real?

DO YOU SEE TIFFANY AND TEGAN IN THE PICTURE? 

More than 3 people who follow the blog missed them!

Lego Store, Downtown Disney

Today's Prayer

Grow Power

I must be growing,
Lord!

I always used to say:  "I've got
to see it before I believe it."

Now I'm affirming:  "I've got to
believe it before I see it!"

Keep giving me grow power, Lord.
Amen

Positive Prayers for Power-Filled Living.

Stillness

Be like an astute businessman: make stillness your criterion for testing the value of everything, and choose always what contributes to it.     - Evagrius

Do you desire, then, to embrace this life of solitude and to seek out the blessings of stillness  If so, abandon the cares of the world, and the principalities and powers that lie behind them; free yourself from the attachment to material things, from domination by passions and desires, so that as a stranger to all this you may attain true stillness. - Evagrius

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Evagrius Ponticus was born into a Christian family in the small town of Iberia, in the Roman province of Pontus. He was educated in Neocaesarea, where he began his career in the church as a lector under Basil. Around 380 he joined Gregory of Nazianzus in Constantinople, where he was promoted to deacon and eventually to archdeacon. When Emperor Theodosius I convened the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD, Evagrius was present, despite Gregory's premature departure.

According to the biography written by Palladius, Constantinople offered many worldly attractions, and Evagrius's vanity was aroused by the high praise of his peers. Eventually, he became infatuated with a married woman. Amid this temptation, he is said to have had a vision in which he was imprisoned by the soldiers of the governor at the request of the woman's husband. This vision, and the warning of an attendant angel, made him flee from the capital and head for Jerusalem.

For a short time, he stayed with Melania the Elder and Tyrannius Rufinus in a monastery near Jerusalem, but even there he could not forsake his vainglory and pride. He fell gravely ill and only after he resolved to become a monk was he restored to health. After being made a monk at Jerusalem in 383, he joined a cenobitic community of monks in Nitria, but after some years moved to Kellia. There he spent the last fourteen years of his life pursuing studies under Macarios the Great and Macarius of Alexandria.  - Wikipedia

Today's Prayer

Bend Me!

Keep me
Soft enough,
Lord,
So you can
Bend me
Into the shape
You want
My life
To take.
Amen.

Positive Prayers for Power-Filled Living.

Beneva Food Pantry

THIS SUNDAY, Beneva Christian is inviting everyone to bring some food, toilet paper, canned goods, etc to church. 

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EFFORT WITH PRAYER, GOODS, AND ATTENDANCE. 

If you are not coming to church this Sunday, you can drop off any donations Friday between 9:00am and 4:00pm at the church office. 

ALSO, the youth will be challenging the congregation to match their gift of $500 for the food pantry to purchase a new refrigerator! 

Let's be generous together!