Thu, Oct 27th - 1:56PM
Is it so easy?
I some times wonder what I'm doing wrong. I look back into the history of evangelists the ones we look at today from the past and I will even throw Billy Graham into the list. They seem to make it all appear so easy to win people over to Christ.After pondering this for a while I finally came to the realization,why. When we look back what we are looking at is the success, I guess that makes sense history is written by the winners. Then I realized something else. All of them for the most part flailed about in obscurity untill they set out and left their comfort zone. They had to go out into the world and completely rely upon God before they truly found the succes to the degree we see today.
But there followed a period of six years in a backslidden state. C.T. relates: "Instead of going and telling others of the love of Christ, I was selfish and kept the knowledge to myself. The result was that gradually my love began to grow cold, and the love of the world began to come in. I spent six years in that unhappy backslidden state." The Lord in His goodness worked in his life and after a serious illness of his brother and his going to hear D.L. Moody the Lord met C.T. again and restored to him the joy of His salvation.
That tells me a lot about the realities of it. When someone like C.T Studd relates a story like that,I actually find hope
William Booth set out across the country to bring the message of salvation, Billy Graham hit the sawdust trail in 1949 never expecting to arrive at the world wide recognition he achieved, Billy Sunday was a washed up baseball player, D.L Moody was a shoe salesman, C.H.Spurgeon left the cozy confines of a huge church to get out in the open air to preach to those that didn't come to hear him. I guess what it all amounts to is each and everyone of them had to take huge leaps of faith before they found that success and I bet if you could ask them all today not one of them would consider themselves a success story when it comes to winning souls, but they where asked to take that leap and that is what they did.
How far are you willing to jump?
Be blessed
Ross
Comment (5)
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Wed, Oct 26th - 8:07PM
Evangelism
As some who have read my blog before may have deduced, I am a fan of what C.H Spurgeon did with his life and how devoted he was to furthering the kingdom of God. I happened accross this quote from him and it made me wonder, am I doing enough? How about you are you doing enough to lead others to salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ? Spurgeon though the preacher of a rather large church,had a passion for street preaching. I think we can all learn something from the good many pastors of large denominations who took the message to the streets also and won hearts for the Lord in an unfriendly enviornment.
"Brethren, do something; do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men. Old Suvarov's idea of war is mine: `Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form a column! Charge bayonets! Plunge into the center of the enemy! Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but do in the power of God!'" Charles Spurgeon
Be blessed
Ross
Comment (5)
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Tue, Oct 25th - 2:17PM
Salvation
We have all sinned. That is part of who we are now as human beings. God hates sin, with all that he is. Because we live in sin we can never be reconciled to God, can never be in his presence and never share in his glory. That’s why God had to give to us of Himself, so that we could share in his eternity. Jesus lived for us a sinless life, to pay the price for our sin.
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 1 Peter 2:21,22 (NASB)
So you see Christ came to provide for you an example of the life you should live. To be a perfect, sinless picture of what God desires of us all, He also laid down that life to pay the price God required to bridge the gap between us
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live in righteousness; for His wounds healed us. 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)
There is no other way we can accomplish this daunting task, no other way to be reconciled unto a just and righteous God. For just as a judge of our laws must uphold those laws so must God uphold His laws and hold us accountable for our transgressions of them.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God John 1:1 (NASB)
And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth John 1:14 (NASB)
He shined the light on the world, gave unto us life in the Father because of the atonement made on the cross, we may be saved, if we but ask. Ask Him into your heart, accept the saving grace provided on your behalf and live life reconciled to God because of the gift Jesus provided for us all. Escape the righteous judgment of God for not living by the rules He gave us. Accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ and be made new. Live life like the example that is Jesus
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Eph. 2:8 (NIV)
Be blessed
Ross
Comment (2)
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Tue, Oct 18th - 6:50AM
LOVE
In so much as we have undertaken to compile of the things that comprise love. Just as those eyewitnesses and servants of the word set out to demonstrate the love that is God. It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated and tested His love from my very beginning . To write out for you in a rambling disorganized, almost illiterate manner, my most beloved brothers and sisters
God is love, Jesus is the light that shined and directed that love which is God into the world
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life John 3:16 (NIV)
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV)
Jesus stepped down from God to be a man to live with us in the sin we are even though he hates it and can't stand to look at it ,he chose to walk amongst it, to live with it and to die for it,so that we could be found righteous through nothing we did but through the love he demonstrated for us.How than should we behave? We should reflect that love to others, we should allow others to see Jesus through our actions, we should love others according to their need not by what we feel they deserve,we should love others without hope of any return. Freely you recieved, freely you should give.Think about it, what if Christ had only loved us as much as we deserved, I could say, see you in hell and I would be right. We would never know the glory of our Father, never be in his presense, never know his love because we don't deserve it. We would be dead in our transgressions.
As it is written, There is none righteous, not even one, Romans 3:10 (NAS)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23 (NAS)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV)
So you see god gave according to our need, he loved us enough to shine the light of life upon our feeble existance, He loved us enough to give us the word and Jesus was the example by which we should strive to live
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another John 13:34,35 (NIV)
Love without fail, love according to the need, do not discern whether or not one is deserving, simply love and show others the love that Jesus gives to all who ask.
Be blessed
Ross
Comment (6)
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Thu, Oct 13th - 6:11AM
Who do we blame?
You see, at just the right tme, when we were still powerless,Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
I heard rantings when Mel Gibson's movie, The passion came out, that it painted the Jewish people in a bad light and was sure to cause even more antisemitism (not sure if thats right) because people would view them as the ones that killed Christ. Maybe we should blame Pilate because he had the ability to put a stop to it. Maybe we should just blame the Romans in general and take out our frustration on the Italians.Maybe in truth however we should look inside ourselves if there is even blame to be placed. look into our hearts. Christ died because we are incapable of attaining righteousness in God's eyes. Our best effort is a pitiful failure to him.
I think maybe pointing the finger at anyone however is a big mistake. Can fault be found for something He chose on his own to do? Can we look to find a scapegoat for what our Lord chose to do on our behalf, because the love he had for us was so great he chose to pay the price of our sins. I say there is no blame to be found, only thanks, only praise for the Lord, Jesus came here to die for you to pay for what he hates and can't stand to look at. Yet he chose to live in it and die for it so that you could be forgiven of it
Oh what a glorious God we serve
Be blessed
Ross
Comment (6)
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Tue, Oct 11th - 6:05AM
16:2520 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages, 16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 16:27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever! Amen.Romans 16:25-27 (NET)
To God be the glory I believe that ultimatly that is the purpose of us and of life. That is the reason for our being, that is the reason for what we are, who we are, why we are.Through Jesus Christ, that is the reason we have reason to give glory and without it life is without reason, without meaning , without sense.
12:25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven? 12:26 Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven too.”34 12:27 Now this phrase “once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, that is, of created things, so that what is unshaken may remain. 12:28 So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe. 12:29 For our God is indeed a devouring fire.35 Hebrews 12:25-29 (NET)
Offer all to Him, give praise and live your life to glorify Him who gave His life that you might live.
Make sure that when your life is tried by fire, something of you remains
It is my prayer that you heed His call.
If you are not familiar with Bible.org or the NET Bible click on the box and check it out it is a great resource
Comment (7)
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Sun, Oct 9th - 6:05PM
1 Thesolonians 5:8,9
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (NASB)
I remember as a kid all the many times I could have used that breastplate. We used to ride our bikes down the road and in front of the neighbors house was an embankment that went up into the yard.We would pedal hard as we could, hit the embankment, which was 4-5 feet high depending on where you hit it and launch ourselves a considerable distance. Sometimes it went well, other times it didn't.If you hit the wrong spot there was a lip that would drive the front wheel down. You still went airborne but at a precarious angle, and if you had the further misfortune of planting the front wheel into one of the divots in the yard, you rolled over the handle bars followed by your bike inflicting even more pain and injury. We would get up hurt, and bleeding, inspect the wreckage and go back to try again. We had great fun doing this activity day after day,after day and nothing was greater than having flown the farthest at the end of the day.
Today I would question any kid willing to submit his body to the punishment of such an activity, why? Why would you be willing to do this? But I know the answer to my question because long ago as it was for me, I still remember the thrill the excitment, the fear as you take off with the knowledge that it could possibly hurt.But also knowing that the next time you would fly further than anyone else ever had. The pain involved was minimal in comparison with the glory which arose from victory. Then to know also that the next day you would fly even farther. That my friends is what faith is all about.
This is what Christ asks of us, that we place our faith in Him, without doubt. Knowing that no matter what happens our salvation is secure. Risking that no matter how much it hurts we will be there to proclaim beyond a doubt that we are saved by grace and will sing His praise for all to hear.
Be bold, be courageous and allow your faith to soar beyond what anyone has accomplished before, or shall ever do again, then tomorrow, shine even brighter. Because of faith, we shall be saved and because of that faith grace shall lead us home.
Shine for Jesus
Ross
Comment (5)
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Fri, Oct 7th - 10:35PM
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we  refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
 And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
 I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
 And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
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Wed, Oct 5th - 7:44AM
CHOICES
If nothing else, this life is full of choices. Some we make are good, others are poor. That is the reality of life.To a certain extent many of those choices have little consequences, others are farther reaching than many anticipate.Let me tell you my friend there is one choice we must make regarding salvation that reaches beyond the grave and lends to eternity and how your future is played out. It is a choice with far reaching implications and one you and I and everyone else must make, or spend forever wishing we had.
Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you,then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:14,15 (NIV)
You have that same choice today. You can give in to your self serving ambition, greed, lust, pride,and other worldly desires, and you can spend an eternity in a dark pit filled with desire, pain, lust, envy and hatred where you never know the glory of God. Where you spend your entire time with vivid memories of every time He tried to draw you close and you spit at Him, where you see no one else but hear thousands of voices screaming in unison God have mercy on me. But He doesn't listen and your thirst for the living water is unquenchable. Or you can put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Surrender your life to His will and believe with all your heart that He died so you might live, forever in His glory..
Choose this day which God you will serve, the god of worldly desires or the God of all creation. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!
Be blessed
Ross
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Mon, Oct 3rd - 3:08PM
Jehovah's Witnesses
The name sounds good . Sounds like it might be a group that would glotify God. Instead they take distorted verses from their own Bible and back them up with disturbing writings from their own printing presses and pass them off as gospel. I personally consider the Bible to be the divinely inspired, infallible, authoritative and complete word of God. Theirs requires help in translating, help to understand what is really being said. and there is some truth to that because I don't see how anyone could come to the conclusions they come to without having a false teacher provide the doctrine.
En arche en ho logos, kai ho logos en pros ton theon, kai theos en ho logos
There we go back to this again. Some of you know already, for those who don't this is John 1:1 in Greek
I don't care what translation you use they pretty much all say the same thing.I will use the Nas because it is a literal translation
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
Pretty self explanitory, the Word was there in the beginning, the Word was with God and the Word was God from the start. Now let's change one thing instead of the Word was God, let's say the word was A God, do you see the difference that is a translation noone comes up with other than them.
Now let's complete their thought on this I would hope that we all believe in a Triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. They teach that Jehovah, God the Father is the one true God. Jesus Christ in truth is the archangel Michael, God's first angelic creation and the Holy Spirit is is not God or person, but an impersonal active force of God.
Now add in that the Bible was written to show that Jesus fulfilled prophecy and you end up at a pretty blasphemous stand on their behalf.
I have been invited to their Hall on occasion and told that people have gone and learned more in 2 weeks at the hall than they had being a Christian for many years, but I ask is false teaching really learning or is it just advancing a deception? Most are quite ready to argue doctrin with youand it usually will do nothing but frustrate both sides.
Speak with them, present your point of view in a respctfull way. Maybe invite them to a study session where you could try to convince them that the Bible stands alone and does not need further interpretation to understand.
I would encourage all to investigate this on their own, don't take my word for it
Be blessed and be a blessing
Ross
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Sat, Oct 1st - 7:14PM
Teri
I am not going to put this delicatly. Teri you are an important part of this site. Get your butt back here because some of us want to hear from you. I don't care if you are not comfortable with this place some of us count on your insight so feel free to post on my blog any time you feel up to it. If you feel like you can run I should be able to also. I suggested you start your own blog once, woman or not, I expect no less
Ross
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Name: Ross Moebius
