May 1st, -   It’s On The Desk

Steve was the starting center on the school football team and also the best student in the college’s Bible class.  One day, his professor asked Steve, "How many push-ups can you do?"  "I do about two hundred every night."  Then the professor asked if he could do 300 in sets of 10.  He had a class project in mind and needed Steve to do about the push-ups for it to work.”  With Steve’s okay, the plan was in motion.  On Friday the professor pulled out a big box of  donuts.  Everyone was excited that there was going to be a party.  The prof asked the first student if she wanted a donut.  When she replied in the affirmative, he turned to Steve and asked him if he would do ten push-ups so she could have a donut.  Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten.  This pattern went on until one of the athletic guys asked,  “Can I do my own pushups?"  "No, Steve has to do them."  The young man said, "I don't want one then."  The professor turned to Steve, "Would you do ten pushups so he can have a donut he doesn't want?" With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten pushups.  Steve continued to do pushups for each person in the room whether the student accepted the donut or not.  Even though his body was in trauma, he refused to stop.  As Steve laboriously finished his 350th pushup, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.  The professor turned to the room and said. "So it was that our Savior Jesus Christ.  Whether we  accept His gift or not, the price has been paid.  Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"

May 2nd, -    Time

When we entered the new millennium, there was considerable confusion about exactly when we should blow the whistles and celebrate.  Though the vast majority of us held to the traditional concept that we could celebrate at the strike of midnight on December 31, 1999, some analysts insisted that since there is no zero year the new millennium was due until the close of 2000.  Still others confused the issue by pointing to other world calendars and declaring that we were nowhere near a millennial change since the Hebrew calculation placed us in the year 5760, the Islamic calendar at 1420, the Chinese calendar at 4698, the Old Roman calendar at 2753, the Coptic calendar at 1716, and the Buddhist calendar at 2544.  It was enough to make us desire a visit from the children of Issachar, who I Chronicles 12:32 says were men with an understanding of the times.  Of course, we too can understand the times if we only remember to keep every thing in perspective.           

Every second of our lives is a little slice of eternity that God has entrusted into our hands.  Today is a gift from God; that’s why we call it the present.  But it is likely that very few of us realize exactly how valuable that present really is.  To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade; the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby; the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper; the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet; the value of one minute, ask a person who missed the train; the value of one second, ask a person who just avoided an accident.

May 3rd - Is God Important?

In the eyes of the world, America is a religious--even a Christian--nation, but a recent study shows that our  relationship with God not very important to most Americans.  The Christian Post reported that the majority of Americans do not rank their relationship with God as the most important personal connection in their life.  Seven out of ten American adults choose their earthly family over the Heavenly Father when asked to choose the most important relationship to them, according to a new Barna Group study.  One-third said their entire nuclear family is most important, while nearly a quarter (twenty-two percent) named their spouse and one-sixth (seventeen percent) pointed to their children.  An additional three percent of American adults identified their parents as the most important relationship in their lives.  Only nineteen percent--less than one out of every five adults--said that their relationship with God, Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or Allah (specific names) is the most important in their life.

The sad truth is that if we want to have meaningful relationships in other areas, we must first have a true relationship with the Lord.  Jesus said that if we would  seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then everything else that we find significant in life would be added. (Matthew 6:33)

May 4th  -  Evangelism

Maturity is reaching the age at which you can reproduce.  If you are not reproducing yourself in other people, you are a failure.  The only reason God doesn’t use us is if we are unusable.  Who would build a ship and leave it in dry dock?  The world is waiting for you to be bold enough to give them what it is that you have.  When some Chinese Christians were called in for interrogation, the police captain asked them how to be saved and then suggested that they have their underground church in his aunt’s house so he could attend undetected. 

Evangelism doesn’t have to be door-to-door announcements that the people need to be saved.  You can evangelize through just presenting what Jesus can and will do in their lives.  By presenting the people with biblical solutions to their problems even if they are not born again.  There will come a time when they will eventually realize that they cannot make the principles work without receiving Christ.

If you could win one thousand people per year to Jesus every year for thirty-five years, you would have brought thirty-five thousand individuals into the Kingdom during this lifetime of ministry.  However, if you were able to win one each person every six months and discipline these new converts and teach them to also win a new convert every six month, the exponential growth of your evangelism would be that of reaching more than world’s population in less than twenty years. 

May 5th - Elijah and the Draught

We can learn an incredibly important lesson from the story of Elijah’s provision during the draught.  God first told him to go to the Brook Cherith to wait out the draught.   Considering that a small brook would be the first water source to dry up during a draught, any water he was to get in this place would be a miraculous supply.  It was a supernatural defiance of the curse that was upon the land.  Similar to the time that God told the Israelites who were being bitten by snakes that they must look to a brass serpent to be healed of their snake bites, God was using the very thing that so dramatically symbolized the curse to be his deliverance from the curse.  Next, God told the prophet that he would receive bread and meat each morning and evening through the courier service of a raven.  This scavenger bird could be seen as a symbol of the devourer that so eagerly consumes everything he can.  Throughout the Bible, we see ample examples of God’s sense of justice by making those who would have been our destroyers become our benefactors. Mordecai wound up with all of Haman’s property--likely worth millions; Esau turned from pursuing Jacob and blessed him; Saul came to kill David but had to bless him, Balaam’s curse turned to a blessing.  Finally, he was sent to the home of a poverty-stricken widow  for her to support him.  Just like the feeding of the multitude with one little lunch, the widow’s mite which proved to be more than all the rest of the offerings, and the gushing of water from a rock, God proved that little is much when God is in it.

May 6th - Christian Nation?

How do people in our “Christian” nation really feel about God?  Here are the results of a recent poll:

There is only one god.
38% strongly agree
10% somewhat agree
15 % somewhat disagree
33% disagree

All gods are the same.
39% strongly agree
22% somewhat agree
13 % somewhat disagree
20% disagree

Christianity is about religion, not loving God and people (the two major commandments).
53% strongly agree
26% somewhat agree
9 % somewhat disagree
9% disagree

Christians get on my nerves.
12% strongly agree
32% somewhat agree
18 % somewhat disagree
36% disagree

The church is full of hypocrites
72% agree

I never go to church
22%, up from 17% in poll two years prior

May 7th - Unchurched

 

The Christian Post reported that new survey has broken down America's church attendance to reflect the growing number of "church" options that have redefined how Christians worship on Sunday.  American Christians are increasingly adopting house churches, marketplace ministries, and cyberchurches as places of worship and ministry. The new Barna survey, contends that popular measures about who is "unchurched" are out of date.  "The fact that millions of people are now involved in multiple faith communities--for instance, attending a conventional church one week, a house church the next, and interacting with an online faith community in-between--has rendered the standard measures of "churched" and "unchurched" much less precise," The Barna Group noted.  Another survey found that seventy-eight percent of Americans are willing to listen to someone tell what they believe about Christianity and seventy-one percent believe that Jesus makes a positive difference in people’s lives.

With these facts and figures in mind, maybe we should re-evaluate some of out tendencies to fragment our lives into little pie-chart segments--secular and religious.  Lets let out lights sign outside the sanctuary as brightly as it does inside.  The world outside the church walls is actually ready to hear what we have to say.   

 

    May 8th  -  Disorderly Church Music

According to CNSNews.com, a Michigan church filed a federal lawsuit after police officers, led by a local prosecutor, entered the sanctuary at least twice without a warrant alleging the church's music was too loud and, in one instance, threatened to arrest church musicians for disorderly conduct. Faith Baptist Church, with a congregation of about ten thousand members, is suing local officials in the Township of Waterford in a First Amendment case a church attorney said could have national ramifications in establishing what local governments can do in regulating churches. The suit--alleging the township violated the church's freedom of religious expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of association--was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Detroit after the church had been subject to what it describes as raids by the Waterford Police Department, led by township prosecutor Walter Bedell.  At least one of those raids occurred during a Sunday service, according to the suit.  The church played contemporary Christian music that included guitars, drums, and other instruments. Township officials contend they were simply trying to enforce local noise laws and that the church is being a bad neighbor.
Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. (Psalm 33:3)

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. (Psalm 98:4)

May 9th - Is it Sin?

When Larry King asked Joel Osteen why he never preached against sin, he replied, “I never thought about using the word “sinner,” but I probably don’t.  Most people already know what they are doing wrong.  When I get them to church, I want to tell they that you can change.”

 

But do they really know that they are doing wrong?  Recent studies show how Americans feel about what is sinful or wrong:
Adultery: 81%
Racism: 74%
Hard drugs: 65%
Not telling a cashier if given wrong change: 63%
Abortion: 56%
Falsifying income tax: 52%
Pornography: 50%
Gossip: 47%
Swearing: 46%
Sex before marriage: 45%
Homosexual thoughts: 44%
Sexual thoughts about someone you are not married to: 43%
Harming the environment: 41%
Smoking marijuana: 41%
Getting drunk: 41%
Gambling: 30%
Not attending church regularly: 18%
Drinking: 14%

May 10th - Church Marques

Staying in bed and shouting, “Oh! God!” does not constitute going to church
God does not believe in atheists: therefore, atheists do not exists.
Forgive your enemies; it messes with their heads.
Free coffee, everlasting life--yes, membership has its privileges.
Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.
God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee.
Read the Bible; it’ll scare the hell out of you.
Wal-mart is not the only savings place.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
There are some questions that Google can’t answer.
Try Jesus; if you don’t like Him, the devil will always take you back
Jesus can heal your achey breaky heart (outside the Pentecostal church pastored by Billy Joel’s grandfather when Achey Breaky Heart was top of charts)

May 11th - Alphabet of Happiness

A--Accept others for who they are.
B--Break away from everything that stands in your way.
C--Create a family of friends with whom you can share.
D--Decide that you'll be happy come what may. 
E--Every new thing you try shows more about yourself.
F--Forgive and forget; grudges only weigh you down.
G--Grow by leave the childhood monsters behind. 
H--Hope for the best.
I--Ignore the negative voice inside your head. 
J--Journey to new worlds by remaining open-minded. 
K--Know things always have a way of getting better. 
L--Let love fill your heart instead of hate. 
M--Manage your time and your expenses wisely, and you'll suffer less stress and worry. 
N--Never ignore the poor, helpless, weak, or suffering.
O--Open your eyes and take in all the beauty around you.
P--Play; success means nothing without happiness.
Q--Questions are your key to learning.
R--Refuse to let worry and stress rule your life.
S--Share your talent, skills, knowledge, and time.
T--Try even when your dreams seem impossible to reach.
U--Use your gifts to your best ability. 
V--Value the friends and family members.
W--Work hard every day to be the best person you can be.
X--X-Ray vision deep inside the hearts of those around you will show you the goodness and beauty within.
Y--Yield to commitment. 
Z--Zoom in on Bible promises if bad memories attack you.

May 12th - Harvest

A number of years ago, I developed a very deep inner desire to go to Israel.  I felt as if it was actually more than a desire; it seemed almost like a spiritual mandate that I must go to the Holy Land that particular year.  Along with the sensing that I should make the pilgrimage was a “knowing” that God had something special to show are tell me through that trip.  Since Dr. Sumrall was taking a group in November, it seemed logical that I would go with his group; so I began preparing myself to go.  The major problem was money.  I had no extra money in the budget to make such a trip, and I saw no way of earning any extra income.  That was until, a friend called and asked me to fill his pulpit one Sunday when he had to be out of town.  Immediately, I thought that whatever honorarium he might give me would be the beginning of the Lord’s provision for extra money to put toward the trip.  However, when I asked Dr. Sumrall to be away that Sunday, he flatly denied my request!  Disappointed in my situation, but not in my God, I called the friend and told him that I could not come.

A few weeks later, I was asked to serve as the tour director for the trip because the lady who was originally coordinating the program had to stay back because of medical reasons.  My faithfulness to my duties and submission to the authority over me opened a wonderful door of opportunity.  Not only did I get that trip to Israel for free, I also was asked to lead several other trips to Israel and even Egypt and Rome  over the next few years!

May 13th - Questions and Answers

The house was full of boxes and there was a U-Haul truck in the driveway, when a neighbor came over and asked, "Hey, you moving?"  "Nope. We just pack our stuff up once or twice a week to see how many boxes it takes."

A guy was fishing when a man stopped by and picked up his stringer of bass and asked, "Hey, you catch all them fish?"  "Nope. Talked 'em into giving up."

A man had a flat tire and pulled his truck into a side-of-the-road gas station.  The attendant walked out, looked at the truck, and asked, "Tire go flat?"  "Nope. I was driving around and those other three just swelled right up on me."

The driver of an 18-wheeler misjudged the height of a bridge and got his truck got stuck.  When he radioed for help, a local cop showed up to take the report.  He went through his basic questioning and finally came to the all-important question, "So, is your truck stuck?" The diver declared that couldn't help himself: he looked at the officer, looked back at the rig, and then back to him, and said, "No, I'm delivering a bridge."

When a co-worker happened by the work station to find another employee working late at work he asked, "Are you still here?"  "No. I left about ten minutes ago."

Let’s hope that the questions we ask are more meaningful and that the answers we get are at least as appropriate.

May 14th - George Otis Jr.

George Otis Jr. is a world renowned missionary and teacher, probably best known for his research on cities, regions, and nations that have been totally transformed  by the power of the gospel.  The following are a few observations he shares concerning the issues within the church which have kept us form being able to see the same transforming power in our nation.

A pornographer advertised on Christian chat rooms and got five out of ten subscriptions; apparently, we are still bound by carnality.  We can’t seem to discern between the wooing of Holy Spirit and the manipulation of men when asked to make decisions like giving or surrendering to the gospel.  The preacher who loves to be before the public is hardly prepared spiritually to be before them.  We try to live above sin by abstinence which does not bring deliverance.  It is dependence upon our own ability to save ourselves.  We have soulical emotion rather than try worship in what he calls “7-11 worship” when we sing seven words eleven times.  We depend upon human creativity when what we really need is to be reflective of the nature of God.  Our pulpits are filled with old windbags rather than new wineskins.  Godly character is woefully undervalued in comparison to human giftedness.  Judging as in recognizing a condition is our business; whereas, judging as in passing a sentence is not.  We must learn to recognize fruitlessness as well as bad fruit.  We confuse possessions, gifts, and accomplishments with godly success.

 

 

 

      April 15th - Darwin Award Winners

When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a holdup in Long Beach, California, would be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder.  He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
        
  The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company.  The company, suspecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the twenty mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulaweyo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.  The deception wasn't discovered for three days.

NOW, tell me again that you believe that humans have evolved from monkeys!

      April 16th - More on the Issue of Evolution

A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change.  When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided.  The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got  from the drawer...$15.  (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)
        
  Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly.  He decided that he'd just a throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window.  The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas.  The whole event was caught on videotape.

As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran.  The clerk called 911  immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher.  Within minutes, the
police apprehended the snatcher.  They put him in the car and drove back to the store.  The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID.  To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her.  That's the lady I stole the purse from."

Honestly, I’ve seen smarter monkeys.  If there is evolution, it must be working in reverse.

      April 17th - Can You Take One More?

The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 AM, flashed a gun, and demanded cash.  The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order.  When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast.  The man, frustrated, walked away.

In Kentucky, two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck.  Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, they pulled the bumper off their truck.  Scared, they left the scene and drove home with the chain still attached to the machine and their bumper still attached to the chain!  With their vehicle's license plate still attached to the bumper.  They were quickly arrested.

When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage.  A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake.  The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Pardon me if I don’t wait around to see how long it will take for us to complete the evolution process.

      April 18th - Leadership

1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month.
7,000 churches close each year.
80% of pastors feel unqualified
50% of pastors would leave ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
80% of Bible college and seminary graduates leave the ministry within five years.
80% of pastor’s wives wish their husbands were in another profession.
The majority of pastors wives say that the most destructive event in their family was the day their husbands entered the ministry.
80% of ministers quit within their first 5 years.
80% of the ones who stay are experiencing burn out, resulting in 40% effectiveness.      

A poll on the confidence people have in various kinds of leadership revealed the following confidence levels:
Military                  40%
Medical                  27%
Supreme Court       22%
Religious                21%
Educational            20%
Not-for-profit         17%
Congress                  9%
Media                      7%

These are very sad statistics, but the wonderful promise is that Jesus is still head of His church.  No matter how many of His undershepherds fail or falter, the Great Shepherd of the flock will never fall short.

      Aprl 19th - Re-Arrangements

Believe it or not, someone went to the trouble to take a number of words and scramble the letters to see if anything meaningful would come out.  Here are the results:

DORMITORY                  DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN             BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER               MOON STARER
DESPERATION               A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES                      THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH              HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE        HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES          CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY                   IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS    LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS         ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT        I’M A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES    THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO      TWELVE PLUS ONE
MOTHER-IN-LAW          WOMAN HITLER

         

 

Other than the one about the mother-in-law (my mother-in-law was an absolutely wonderful woman), I think that there are some really fascinating outcomes.  However, these little word games are only a hint at the wonderful way that God can cause something meaningful to come out of our lives when the order that we know is re-arranged.  Just think of the example from the life of the Old Testament character Joseph.  When every bit of order in his life was by being sold into slavery and then thrown into prison and finally forgotten by his one hope of rescue, God took all the elements of his life and turned him into the savior of a nation and eventually his own family.

      April 20th - Noah’s Flood

Deep-sea explorers have discovered an ancient coastline on the floor of the Black Sea, providing evidence of a sudden catastrophic flood about 7,500 years ago that spread almost overnight over thousands of square miles of land.   Explorers led by Robert Ballard and funded by the National Geographic Society captured the sonar images of the coastline 550 feet below the surface of the sea.  Radiocarbon dating of the remains of mollusks dredged from the beach was used to determine the date of the flood.  Ballard said the findings indicate a flood occurred during that 600-year gap.  This discovery offered independent verification to an idea advanced by geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman who theorized that the Black Sea formed when melting glaciers raised the sea level until it broke through a natural dam at what is now the Bosporus Strait.  The resulting deluge quickly submerged massive amounts of land overnight, probably killing thousands of people and billions of animals.  Ballard found the ancient coastline almost exactly were their thirty years of research indicated it would be.

Some Christians, eager for scientific proof to back up their belief in the Bible quickly proclaimed this discovery to be evidence of Noah’s flood.  As exciting as these finds may be, we must not rush to accept them as documentation of the Bible.  The dating is off by three millennia and this was a localized flood, not the universal one described in the Bible.  In essence, we must always be careful not to sell ourselves short by believing everything that is offered to us--no matter how sensational--unless it totally aligns with the Word of God.

    

April 21st - Hollywood vs. Holywood

More Christian themes are being portrayed in movies. Christian Film and Television Commission director Ted Baehr praised the film industry for the increase in Christian-themed movies last year, journalist Dan Wooding said. "There were more movies with a moderate to strong Christian worldview and content released in 1998 than ever before -- twenty-six to be exact," Baehr said.  There were fourteen such movies in 1997. There were seventy-five movies with a clear Christian worldview, elements and/or content, up from forty-nine the year before, he said. The commission based its figures on reviews and content analysis of two hundred eighty-six movies released in 1998.
         
However, a February 16, 1999, report from the Dove Foundation stated that Hollywood continues making films full of sex and violence even though they are less profitable.  In the decade 1988-1997, Hollywood made seventeen times more "R" rated films than "G" rated, even though the average "G"-rated film brought in eight times more revenue.  After reviewing their report, "Profitability Study of MPAA-Rated Movies," film critic Michael Medved concluded that the study "proves that the real edge in Hollywood goes to competently crafted family entertainment."

Since the media is one of the greatest tools in sculpting the mentality of our society, we must pray that god will continue to raise up Christian writers, actors, and producers to bring a godly influence to the film industry and at the same time awaken the secular producers to the profitability of wholesome movies.

 

 

 

       April 22nd - Power of Prayer

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4)          
         
A city delegation in Goiania, Brazil, asked a Christian radio show to return to the airwaves.  Elisabeth Cornelio had hosted a daily prayer program with 200,000 listeners, but devaluation of the Brazilian Real pressured the station owner to charge much higher rates for airtime. The prayer movement could not afford the increase, so it stopped broadcasting for three months. During that time the station’s ratings reportedly dropped from 3rd to 17th place among the other stations, and the city's crime rate rose 40%. City officials, including the mayor and chief of police, asked Cornelio to restart the broadcasts at the original price. Every month the city updates the prayer program on the latest criminal trends so its listeners can pray.  Evangelistic efforts are proving fruitful, Christians say.  Christian midwives anoint newborns with oil and dedicate them to God.  Others visit supermarkets, praying for the shoppers.  Some Christians rise at 4 AM to walk among commuters on public transportation and pray for them.  Mobile prayer teams are starting churches. Christians go door-to-door offering prayer to those they meet.

      April 23rd -Speaking in Tongues

Ten-nation study by Pew Forum on Religion Forum that in six nations at least forty percent of Pentecostals said that they never speak in tongues.  In the US, forty-nine percent of Pentecostals and thirty-two percent of charismatics said that they didn’t speak in tongues.  Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and the US.  “More people joining Pentecostal churches for the lively worship and preaching, but not seeing the need to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit for themselves,” Kenneth Bell, spokesman for Church of God.  Dwight McKissic Sr., pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, has asked the Southern Baptist Convention to include a statement on speaking in tongues in their statement of faith.  He criticized the anti-tongues position of the convention’s International Mission Board.  His message given at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminar where he serves as a trustee was not posted on line as is the standard practice due to objections of the seminary’s president,  Paige Patterson.  When the school issued a statement that they would not endorse charismatic practices or appoint professors who advocate such practices, he was the only trustee to vote against the measure.  He predicted a mass exodus, especially among black congregations, if the convention bans speaking in tongues.  Present regulations for missionaries who speak in tongues is almost identical to those concerning homosexuality.  July 2006, Rear Admiral Robert Burns became the first Pentecostal Naval chaplain chief over 1,100 active duty and reserve chaplains.

 

 

      April 24th - Did You Ever Consider?

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.  Do not ever let anyone claim to be a true American patriot if they ever attempt to separate religion from politics. (George Washington)

What goes in your mouth determines how you grow; what comes out of your mouth determines where you go.

Underpromise, but overdeliver.

Christians are like tea bags; it’s only when they get into hot water that you find out how strong they are.

You don’t have to change the world overnight; but if you do one thing differently each day, you’ll soon see a change In you that will effect he world you live in.

If you lack knowledge, go to school; if you lack wisdom, get on your knees.

Education is preparation to accept opportunity when it presents itself.

Take time to laugh.

Main things are the plain things.

If you miss God, don’t get worried; He is big enough to find again.

You can only coast if you are going downhill.

Jesus didn’t really have twelve disciple; He actually only had eight disciples--along with one traitor, two managers, and one leader.

Jesus treated Peter more severely than others because he was the leader.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

 

If you decide to “go with the flow,” you are only drifting.

Do not pray for an easy life; pray to be a stronger man.

 

      April 25th - Points to Ponder

Be in your place, full of grace--or fall on your face.

To succeed, ya gotta wanna.

The key to treading on serpents is to keep your focus on Jesus, not snakes.

Value and worth are not the same; the olive wreath awarded in Roman events cost only a few cents, but the athletes were willing to run marathons and fight gladiators to win one.

The employer who is only willing to pay peanuts will get only monkeys on his staff.

Keys to spiritual breakthrough: pray, pay, stay, say, obey.

Secrets to longevity: purpose, power, promise, purity.

Your expression is the most important thing you can wear.

You should be interested in the future because you are going to spend the rest of your life there.

A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast. (Groucho Marx)

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Go the extra mile.  That part of the road is never crowed.

One delivery company boasts, “The extra mile is on our regular route.”

I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow. (Woodrow Wilson)

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

At end of rope, the people you have helped along the way will add extra length to get you to your goal.

If I have seen further than others, it is from standing on the shoulders of giants. (Isaac Newton)

     
      April 26th - Success Thoughts

Why use a crowbar to open a door when God has given you a key?

Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently. (Henry Ford)

Life is not worth living until you have something worth dying for.

Just when you think that you have graduated from the school of experience, someone comes up with a new course.

Top cats often begin as underdogs.

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.

A man who doesn’t stand for something will fall for anything. (Peter Marshall)

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.

The first step toward your future is a step away from your past.

I can live for two months on a good compliment. (Mark Twain)

Experience is the name everyone gives to mistakes. (Woodrow Wilson)

Too much of a good thing is wonderful. (Mae West)

It’s not whether you get knocked down.  It’s whether you get up again. (Vince Lombardi)

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others hire public relations writers.

Diligence succeeds over intelligence or talent every time.

A genius is a talented person who does his homework. (Thomas Edison)

 

 

      April 27th - Thoughts on Successful Living

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine if he is working or playing.  To himself he always seems to be doing both.
         
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

You must decide whether you are going to live life as the one who takes the photographs or one who gets into the picture.

Remember that no matter what it is that you are going through, you must have the attitude that you are eventually coming out the other side--you are not stopping in the problem; otherwise you are not really going through the issue.

John the Baptist said that he must decrease so that Jesus could increase.  The same is true in all our lives--if we decrease, the life of Jesus inside us will increase.  We must sacrifice what we are so that we can become what Jesus wants us to be.

You can’t change history, so go after the future.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” (Helen Keller)
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” (Bill Wilson)
Catch the waves; don’t make them.
Define issues; refine solutions.

 

 

      April 28th - Jesus’ Three Days in the Grave

Where Jesus go during those three days between the cross and the empty tomb and what actually happened while He was there?  When He spoke to the thief who hung on the adjacent cross, He told him that they would be together in Paradise (Luke 23:43)--not exactly a description we would expect Him to use of the devil’s realm.  A paradise in biblical times was an enclosed garden with beautiful flowers, water fountains, and caged or wild birds.  The one thing that is significant about this definition is the word “enclosed.”  You see, just outside that wall was another world with all its raw reality--death, starvation, disease, and human depravity of every kind.  I’ve personally been in many paradises in places like India and Nepal; inside was a beautiful retreat while lepers, thieves, and prostitutes lived in misery just outside the gate.  Apparently, God had prepared a paradise for those Old Testament believers who died in hope of a coming messiah where they awaited the news that He had finally come while the unbelievers suffered the torments of hell just outside the boundaries. (See Luke 16:20-31)  I Peter 3:19 says that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison.  Ephesians 4:8-10 refers to Jesus’ descent in the lower parts and His ascension carrying captivity captive, suggesting that His journey into the realm of the dead was to bring out those Old Testament saints who had died in faith but could not enter heaven until after He made the sacrifice of which all their symbolic sacrifices had prophesied.  When He told them that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, they were able to believe on Him and go with Him to heaven. (See Matthew 27:52-53)

 

     
      April 29th - It is Well

Millions of people have found comfort in the great gospel hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” since it was written more than a century ago.  But few people know the tragic story behind the composition of the hymn--a story of a soul finding peace in God even in the midst of grief and loss.  Horatio Spafford was particularly hard hit by the great Chicago fire of 1871 because he had invested heavily in real estate along Lake Michigan.  Only a short time before the financial devastation, he had suffered the loss of their son; yet, even worse was to come.  Two years later, he and his wife and four daughters were headed to Europe on vacation, where he was to assist his friend Dwight Moody with an evangelistic campaign.  When last-minute business kept Spafford home, he sent his wife and children ahead on an ocean liner.  Halfway across the Atlantic, an English vessel rammed the liner and cut her in two.  Within just twelve minutes the ship had sunk, taking with it the four young girls.  Mrs. Spafford was rescued and taken to Wales where she cabled the terrible news to her husband, “Saved alone.”  Spafford immediately boarded the next ship and set off for Wales to be with his wife.  As his ship approached the mid-Atlantic, he looked out over the billowing waves that had taken the lives of his beloved daughters.  Inspired by the sight, the bereaved father penned the words of his now famous hymn:  “When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It Is well, It is well with my soul."

 

     
      April 30th - Islam

Quoting from a statement once made to him by a Muslim leader, an Italian bishop told a Vatican synod, “Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you.  Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.”  He said that the Muslim nations are pursuing “a clear program of expansion and re-conquest” in Europe, citing facts such  as the oil-rich nations use of their money but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries rather than to create jobs in poor countries of North Africa and the Middle East.  He went on to point out that Islam has become the second largest faith in Italy where mosques have been built in several cities.  He documented the fact that a fifty-million dollar mosque in Rome was financed by twenty-three Muslim nations, with almost two-thirds of the funding coming from Saudi Arabia.  The bishop then called on the pope to convene a special synod to address the issue. 
       
The Catholic Church has attempted to foster better Muslim-Christian relations, and the pope has visited several Islamic nations--including Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan--preaching a message of religious tolerance.  He has asked Muslim nations that forbid Christian worship to afford equal rights to all.
         
The sad reality is that where we Christians have failed in our responsibility as missionaries to the Muslim world, we have become the mission field of the Islamic faith.