A good Christian Life

Bible

August 3, 2020

I know that for so many people, the desire to find balance in their life has become kind of this over … over … overwhelming, like, goal. I have work. I have family. I have faith. I have my friends. I have hobbies. I have all these things in my life. And I don’t have balance in my life. And so the question can come up like, how do you achieve balance? There’s going to be three things, right? First thing: I remember hearing this from someone who I thought was very wise when they said this, they said, “Many of us imagine balance as rest. Right? Like, balance as something static.” But it’s not and they gave this example. They said, “Imagine you stand on one foot.

If you can right now stand on one foot. Now pay attention to what your foot is doing and what your body is doing. You’re balanced, but you’re actually not balanced. You’re constantly adjusting, you’re constantly moving, you’re constantly compensating for the fact that you’re on one foot.” So you haven’t achieved balance; you’re balancing. So it’s gonna be ongoing. It’s not rest, it’s active. Number two: balance in your life is going to be disproportionate. We don’t have equal parts family, work, hobbies, whatever the other thing is. Even that kind of idea that, you know, “Work-life balance, I want my family and my life balanced.” It’s not that cut-and-dried, right? It’s gonna be disproportional. Disproportional? Disproportionate. It’s not gonna be 50/50, right? It has to be disproportionate. This is even true when it comes to work. I mean think about something we got from the Bible. Here’s God who creates the world in six days. Again, this is figurative language. We all know that it actually happened, but how it literally happened doesn’t have to be six days. But it’s very theological and deep and a whole other thing with that. Anyways, back to our story, God works for six days. He rests for one day.

We work five or six days and rest for one or two days. And if we actually were to change that and say like, I work and rest half-and-half. There’s something off about that, I think. You know, maybe you would say, “No, I’ve tried it and I love it. They do it in Europe.” I don’t know if they do. But I don’t think that’s balance. I think everything in its place is balance. In fact, there’s going to be things that are disproportionate in your life if you want a great life. I remember, I was watching this competition. It was a CrossFit thing, anyways. But I was watching this competition and the woman who won, she said, “Champions can’t have balance.” Champions can’t have balance. Because they have to be all about the thing that they want to be a champion about. So as a Christian, it means that Christians can’t have balance either, in the sense that, I can’t just give equal parts to every thing. I’ve got to make some decisions I’ve got to, I’ve got to make the decisions about, “What am I gonna seek first?” And Jesus said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of heaven.” If we’re gonna be saints, it means you’re not gonna have balance.

So seek first the Kingdom of God. That’s the third thing. So first thing is, you don’t have balance, you’re balancing. Number two is, um, that sense, What is it? Disproportionate. And number three is you need priorities. Now one of the things we hate to do is we hate making decisions. We hate saying no to something, because even if that means we get to say yes to something greater, but we have this fear of missing out, and so it’s like well I’ll say yes to all these things. I mean they’re all good, right? Yeah, they’re all good, but sometimes the good, in choosing all the goods, is the enemy of the great. We said before, that sometimes perfect is the enemy of the good. And that time, other times, choosing so many goods becomes the enemy of the great. We need to prioritize. I remember, I came across something a while back that said, the difference between busy people and productive people is that busy people have goals. All these things they want to do. Productive people have priorities. They have all the things they want to do, but they’ve taken the next step, and they’ve decided. This is the number one. This is the number two.

This is the number three. And so on. And you can see this in people’s lives, right? Because every decision costs something. Every decision. Every open door, you know, that you walk through, it costs all the doors you didn’t walk through. And so here’s someone who says, you know, “I value, my career very highly.” and so there’s going to be a trade-off. You will not have as much time with your family and friends. Someone says, “You know, I value my family and friends more than I value that certain kind of income.” Say, OK, that’s the trade off. You get more time with family and friends, but you have less financial resources. But if you’ve made this decision, these are my priorities. I value this over that. I value friends over finances. I value my faith over the rest of my life.

That recognition that you have goals, but you’ve made decisions about those goals. You’ve made them priorities. If you’re gonna be a saint you cannot do everything, but you have to do the most important things. This is actually Ephesians Chapter Five I think it’s verse 15, where St. Paul says, he says, “As you walk, do not walk as unwise people, but walk as wise people.” Like, be careful how you live. A lot of us, we don’t make decisions. We don’t decide this over that. We just say, “Oh, I’ll do it all, all the good stuff I want.” No, be careful how you live. Do not walk as unwise but as wise. Because you’re called to be a saint, if you’re gonna be a saint, you can’t do it all. You only have to do what you have to do. So, hope you find some balance or at least have a great time balancing. From all of us here at Ascension Presents, My name’s Father Mike. God bless. I just winked, dang it. God bless.

How to become a happy Christian

Bible

August 3, 2020

0

Hey guys! Why are some Christians outthere so happy and they seem so peaceful all the time, even while they’reexperiencing problems in life? While on the other hand there are Christians that just seem to be depressed and they have problems and issues with everything and everyone and you can clearly see that they’re carrying these heavy burdensthat are stealing their peace and their joy, They just seem so negative, all thetime. What is the difference between them? What is the secret to enjoying andhaving life in all its fullness and to experience that peace in your heart thatsurpasses all understanding even in hard times? Well that’s what we’re gonna lookat in this video, let’s get to it. Now just very quick, if its your first timehere on my channel, I’m Daniel and Welcome to DLM Christian Lifestyle. Consider subscribing and also clicking that notification bell, so you won’t miss any of the next videos. Now, how can you be happy all the time as a Christianin this world, even while you experience hard times? That is what every humanbeing wants, a life of happiness but happiness is an emotion, it’s a feeling that you have and feelings change all the time. What you are really looking for.What you really want is peace, eternal peace. This deep peace in your spirit that surpasses all understanding that is there even while you go through difficult times, in this life. But here’s the thing, that peace is only possible with God.

Not with money, not with success, not with a career not with drugs, not with shopping, not withrelationships or any other thing this material world can offer you. You willalways be hungry for more, thirsty for more to try and fill that hole inside ofyou but Jesus says in John 4 verse 14 “but whoever drinks of the water that Ishall give him will never thirst but the water that I shall give him will becomein him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Your soul needs to find its rest in God Himself. He’s the only one that can giveyou eternal peace and rest for your soul. Jesus says in Matthew 11 verse 28 to 30,”Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” This is so beautiful because all He says is come to Me. He invites us to come to Him but many Christians don’t, they just carry all these burdens and problems andyou can see how they just go from one place to the other place with all theseburdens and they don’t bring it to God. But God promised us peace. He says inPhilippians 4 verse 6 to 7 “be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayerand supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God andthe peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts andminds through Christ Jesus.” So its the peace of God that guards the hearts and the minds of Christians and that is why you see those Christians that look sohappy and peaceful all the time what you’re actually seeing is God’s peacethat surrounds them. That guards them because theycontinually talk to God and they fully trust Him with their lifes but there’salso something else here He says here in verse 6 “be anxious for nothing” and Jesusalso says this in Matthew 6 where He says “don’t worry”. But then why are somany Christians out there worrying and anxious and stressing about their lifesand this is very important, so listen up.

It is because they have not yet reachedthe point where they have fully surrendered every single aspect of theirlifes to God. Many don’t even know that they have to do it because they don’t study God’s word, they just go and listen to preachers that don’t even teach thesedeep truths of Scripture anymore. All preachers like Billy Graham and even mydad used to preach about these things about fully surrendering to God and youcould see how it changed people’s lifes. So what does it mean to fully surrenderto God? Because that is the secret to true happiness which is actually eternalpeace. Well, let me explain it this way. First, when you become a true ChristianGod opens up your spiritual eyes and you can understand spiritual things and youbelieve in Him and you give your heart to Him and God justifies you, you becomea Christian a reborn Christian and it gives you the Holy Spirit to come andhelp you and to guide you, but you still have a long road left on this earth aroad of sanctification, you’re like a new spiritual baby but the Holy Spirit helpsyou and guides you to grow spiritual and to become more Christ minded and to livefully for God. Remember in the previous verse Matthew 11 verse 28 to 30 afterJesus says that He will give us rest what does He say? “Take My yoke upon youand learn from Me and you will find rest for your souls.”Now remember I’ve said this in previous videos as well but what is our soul? Itis mainly our intellect our emotions and our own will and so all those parts are soneed to come in rest in God.

How and when does our soul come and rest in God? It usually happens after you became a Christian, after conversion, and I’mtalking here about fully resting in God and for many people it’s years afterthey became a Christian where they find this full rest in God. When you come toGod for the first time to become a Christian you find a certain amount ofpeace some rest but that rest is for salvation. We havepeace in Christ because you know you are saved. But Jesus says take My yoke uponyou and that means to fully surrender to God’s will and plan for your life andJesus showed us this by an example where He submitted to the Father’s will inLuke 22 verse 42 and He said, “Father if it is Your will take this cup away fromme nevertheless not my will but yours be done” And now Jesus asks you the samething to fully surrender your life to God’s will and plan for your life. Thisdoesn’t really have anything to do with going to heaven, this is about your life, right here on earth, that you still have left, it’s your life before you go toheaven. So how do you do it? How do you fully surrender to God? Well you go to Him and you talk with Him and you just pray. “God I want to fully surrender everyaspect of my life to you, I want to walk in Your will. Reveal to me what is mypurpose on earth while I’m still alive what do you want me to do with my life?Because I trust Your plan for my life because You know everything, You knowbetter than I do and You know me better than I know myself.

surrenderingyour whole life to God is so important for spiritual growth and you can clearlysee the difference between people who are fully surrendered to God and toChristians who haven’t done it yet. Christians whohaven’t fully surrendered to God’s will in every aspect of their lifes. Alwayshave …….. in South Africa we usually say this guy has issues always issues or thisgirl always has issues, so Christians who have never fully surrendered to Godalways have issues then they have issue of this thing or that church or thisperson or this friend or that brother or there’s always problems. They are nevercontent with things as they are but then something huge happens when that personfully surrenders to God’s will. When that person takes the yoke of Jesus 100% onthemselves and trusts Him, it is then when your soul comes at rest at thefeet of Jesus and then your soul is not restless anymore but it is calm and itwaits on the Lord even in the Old Testament we can see that some of thegodly men knew this rest in God. Psalm 131 verse 1, “Lord my heart is not ahaughty nor my eyes Laughton first tooth surely I have come and quieted my soullike a weaned child with his mother like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” So to take His yoke upon you move with Him, He guides you and you’reasking God reveal to me if there’s anything here in my life that is notaccording to Your will, is there something that I haven’t yet fullysurrendered to You? This is not a passive decision it is an active decision where you choose to follow God’s will, where you move with Him and you wait upon Himfor direction in your life of course you still have your own will but that willis now under the will of God. If this happens, you feel free, you feel light and you feel filled with God’s peace and the Holy Spirit and now He can fully use youas He wants to and He knows exactly what you’re capable of because He’s the onewho made you, He gave you the gift that you have to use for His glory. If youhave not yet fully surrendered to God you will not find that peace, you willnot experience that full rest in your soul. Because you don’t fully trust Godwith your life, you’re not letting go of your burdens, be honest with yourself. You know people asked me on the other channel that I have, DLM ModelLifestyle, they asked me Daniel how do you handle stress and how can I evenstart to try to explain to them that I don’t experience stress the same waythat they do because I trust God with my whole life. I have fully surrenderedevery single aspect of my life to Him and even when I am supposed to have orfeel stress, I don’t. Because I have that 100% peace in my heart that comes fromGod and that peace surpasses all understanding I can’t even explainmyself fully surrendering to God changed my whole life and I know my identity inChrist and also my purpose in His world. Even two years ago when my father diedto cancer, of course I was sad, you know, on an emotional level, but I still had peace in my heart. Because I know that God can seeeverything, He knows what He’s doing. I trust in God’s plan for my life. You know,I am that stage of my life where I’ve realized that everything I need comesfrom God and I’m content with whatever He brings on my path or whatever Hegives me I am fully content I don’t carry heavy burdens because Ifully trust in God’s promises. God took away all those burdens I had. I am free. Totally free and it’s interesting, because the only desire I now have in myheart is to get to know Him more and fuller.

I just want to know God. I wantHim to reveal Himself to me more and more, to grow closer to Him. Do you have that desire in your heart? Do you want to know Godfuller? Then go to Him and fully surrender every aspect of your life toHim and say: “God, not my will be done but Your will be done in my life” andsometimes there are one or two big things that a person wants to hold on to. It can be some kind of sin or it can be things like the decision of who you wantto marry, where to live, what career you have but you need to come to a pointwhere you realize that God knows better than you, He can see the future becauseHe doesn’t live in time, He can see all the ripple effects of your decisions andusually if you move outside of the will of God it never ends good and then youpray again to God to help you in this situation that you have found yourselfin and He needs to come and repair the bad decisions that you’ve made becauseyou chose to move outside of God’s will but you know you can trust Him becauseHe is gentle, He is lowly in heart. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Hewill never take you through unnecessary hardship and if He does allow certainhardships over your life, it’s because He wants to teach you something and if yougo through that a hardship while you trust God you will come out the otherend stronger. Now, I want to invite you in the name of Jesus Christ, to surrender every single aspect of your life to God. and say not my will but Your will bedone. Now remember God loves you and I love you too. Bye

History of Christianity

August 3, 2020

0

Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal and thousands more. One Bible but so many churches. Is this really the work of Christ? Find out today on Face The Truth. Welcome to Face The Truth, a program brought to you by the Church Of Christ. I am Brother Barry Thompson. Are you Catholic or do you belong to one of the many Protestant denominations such as the baptist church, Presbyterian church, Methodist church or maybe you even call yourself Pentecostal. Now if we were to mention all of these different names of churches under the banner of Christianity, we would be here all day or more.

Different religions

In fact, according to David Barret and other editors of the World Christian Encyclopedia- A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions, there are over thirty three thousand separate Christian groups in the world today. Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations. Some would say these are the different flavors of Christianity and many don’t see anything wrong with this. In fact, take a look at this. And this video is entitled “Why are there so many Protestant denominations?” Have you ever wondered why are there so many churches practices? Why is it that there are so many different versions of Christianity? There’s different religions because there’s different, there’s different cultures… with a with [a] plethora of of different people You have the Catholics, you have the Protestants who’s, you know, divided. What denomination is this church? You have no idea do you? You keep coming but they don’t tell us. [laughter] Because some of us are charismatic, some of us aren’t, some of us are reformed, some of us are Armenian, some of us are congregationally governed…

The reason there are different denominations within Christianity is because… the Bible allows for us to have differences of opinion. So yes there is one power, one force that got everything here but there’s just different views on it. I don’t think that there’s anything better or worse than this view than this view. It’s just different. Seriously, does anyone know? Christian? Thanks for narrowing it down. [laughter] Now as we can see many people today see all these different denominations or churches as a good thing for Christianity. For them, this just gives people more choices. Just find the church that suits your taste or likes and join it. However, are all these various churches the work of the Lord Jesus Christ or even his apostles? Did Jesus Christ establish many different churches with different names, and practices and doctrines? What does Christ and even history teach us about Christianity? Now we must begin with the founder himself where it is his name that many are using are part of their belief. Did Jesus Christ establish a Church and if so, how many? Let’s find out who established the Church.

Let’s go to what is written in the book of Matthew 16 and the verse is 18, the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it can’t be any clearer than this. Christ said “I will build my Church” so it was none other than Jesus Christ himself, who established or built his Church. Now when did the Lord Jesus Christ establish his Church? Let’s read from the book of Luke this time chapter 12 and the verse is 32. Again from the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here the Lord Jesus Christ mentions the little flock. He’s speaking to the little flock. What is meant by the term used by Christ as the flock that he was speaking to, in the verse we just read? Well we have to go again to the Bible for the answer. This time from the Apostles in Acts chapter 20 and the verse is 28. So the flock is the Church Of Christ and this is conclusive proof that Jesus Christ established, only one Church when he was still on Earth and it was named after him the Church of Christ. Now when we say one Church, what exactly does that mean? Well we will go to the Bible for the answer when we return on Face the Truth. Coming up, so many denominations, so many names.

They say they all belong to Christ but do they? Find out when we return on Face the Truth. Welcome back to Face the Truth. Today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. And according to the Bible, Christ established only one Church. Now when we say one Church, what exactly does that mean? Well we won’t give you our own answer. Let’s just go to the answer given to us by the Bible. And what we’re going to read is what is written in the book of Colossians chapter 1 and the verse is 18. This is what the Apostle Paul himself teaches us. What exactly is the Church? According to Apostle Paul it is the body of Christ in which he himself is the head. Now how did Apostle Paul describe this body of Christ or the Church? Ephesians chapter 4 and the verses are 4, 5 and 6. Now, the Apostle Paul identified the characteristics of the true Church, the one Church. He said there is one body so there’s only one Church and in that one body, or one Church of which Jesus Christ is the head there’s only one spirit guiding the Church. The members only have one hope. There is only one Lord Jesus Christ and they have only one faith or one set of doctrines, and these doctrines are the doctrines that were taught to them by the Lord Jesus Christ and preached by the Apostles. And do you also notice one of the teachings and beliefs that they possess, is they possess the belief in the one God, who is none other than the Father. And so to teach anything else other than what Christ and the Apostles taught would disqualify any church, any group from calling themselves true. And so the true Church established by Christ is completely united in everything they do, especially their teachings. But is this the case with all the different denominations or churches we see today?

Take a look at this. Isn’t the fact that there are so many religions basically proof that nobody knows about God or the afterlife? Denominations, it’s it’s nothing really new. You know, you have the Pharisees, you had the Sadducee.. If you walk up to someone and say, what does it mean to be a Baptist? We dunk adults. Anything else? Uh, no. You say, who your pastor is? Now depending on what they might have heard about your pastor in that particular church, or your denomination which yall believe then they can kind of size you up. You know? What does it mean to be Presbyterian? We dunk babies. We use instruments in our worship and you don’t. We’re right here tonight in San Francisco. We kept it raw passion for God! Because we think drums and guitars are from Satan. Because syncopated music is from the devil. Whatever! But then, the tongues, the no tongues, the baptism, the Holy Ghost. Raise your hand, we’re gonna pray in tongues. Hallelujah, let’s do it Oh we love you Jesus. [trails off in tongues] Why do we have thirty seven thousand denominations? It is unfortunate but it’s true that denominational differences are due to our short sightedness and lack of love.

How come we can’t just have the big unified everybody? We each have a piece of the puzzle, but we can’t come together so we can’t see what the picture on the box is supposed to look like. So none of the pieces really fit together because we we can’t we can’t see the big picture. We can’t get an overview of what it is we’re supposed to be doing here. Now as you can see, what we find today is that the so many so called Christian churches today, are different in many ways. There is no unity. So they don’t fit the Bible’s description of the true Church. The true Church established by Christ is completely united in everything they do, especially in their teachings. It’s just one organization. Now are we the only ones who know and teach this fact that there is only one true church established by Christ? The Church of Christ. We’ll find out when we return on Face The Truth. Welcome back. Today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. Now earlier we learned that Christ only established one Church, the Church of Christ. And we’re not the only ones who teach that Christ established one true Church, the Church of Christ.

Why don’t we go to other authorities of other religious groups? Let’s say for example, the Catholics. Do Catholic priests also affirm that Christ established a church, and according to them as well what is the name of this church? We’re gonna read to you from a book, an excerpt from a book entitled “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma”. On page 274 , I’m gonna quote what is written. So you’ve seen what the Catholic authorities attest and affirm. That Christ built or established the Church of Christ. Now how about Protestants? Do Protestant preachers affirm as well that Christ established a church? And according to them too, what is the name of this church? I’m gonna read another excerpt from a book entitled “Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible” by Myer Pearlman. On page 349 we quote: Now did you notice that what we’re showing you today is common knowledge, among many Catholic authorities and even Protestant preachers? And that is that Jesus Christ established only one church, the Church of Christ. Now here is an important question that needs, is begging for an answer. If Jesus Christ established or built only one church, why then do we find so many different churches existing today? Shouldn’t we all belong to only one true church? Did Christ authorize the establishment of different churches with different names, doctrines, practices, et cetera, et cetera? Absolutely not. You cannot read that anywhere in the Bible. And so what happened? What happened to the one church? The Church of Christ that He established? When we come back we will dig through the pages of history to find out what really happened. Stay with us.

Welcome back to Face the Truth. Now today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. Now we learned Christ established only one church, the Church of Christ, but what happened to that Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ? Well we told you we are going to dig up the past or go back in history. Now sometimes when you dig up the past you might not like what you find. However this subject is too important so we must expose the truth because many people wanna know it and we need to know it. It may take volumes of books to give all the fine details of church history, but what we will try to do is to give a condensed factual form of what actually happened to the Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ in the first century. Now what did Christ forewarn his disciples or the members of the church he established? We’ll read here in Matthew 24 and the verse is 11.

The Lord Jesus says this: Now Jesus Christ warned his disciples that many of them would be lead astray by false prophets. Now, it goes without saying that a true prophet teaches truth. But a false prophet teaches what is false or teaches lies Now where would these false prophets come from? Here also from the Holy Scriptures Acts chapter 20 and the verse is 30. This time we’re gonna read what the Apostle Paul himself warns the disciples. He says this: Here now is a warning of Apostle Paul and he reiterated the warning of the Lord Jesus Christ to the members of the church then. Apostle Paul warned them that there would be men from their own group, or within the church that would tell lies. For what purpose? To lead the believers away after them. So you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have Apostle Paul, who else warned about the false prophets, or men from within the Church who would tell lies to lead the members of the Church of Christ astray? This time second Peter chapter 2 and the verse is 1. Apostle Peter tells us this. And so Apostle Peter not only confirmed what Christ and Apostle Paul warned, he also mentioned what lies would be told. He said the false prophets would bring in destructive, untrue doctrines.

Now did the Apostles also identify some of the false teachings to be taught by the false prophets to lead the members of the Church of Christ away from the true faith or lead them astray? Apostle Paul says this in the book of First Timothy, the chapter is 4 and the verses are 1 and 3. Now Apostle Paul tells us that in the latter times, or the future, some would depart from the faith. Why? Because they would give heed to or listen to false doctrines which he identified as doctrines of the Devil. Did he also mention two of these doctrines? Yes. He mentioned in the verses that we have just read; forbidding to marry, and the other one would be commanding to abstain from eating meats. Now while this is not a show aimed at attacking others, it is however the goal to expose what is false and reveal also what is true. So we are just going to read The Bible and then we’re going to let the evidence lead us in whatever direction is necessary. Now were such doctrines ever taught and who teaches them? We’re gonna read an excerpt from a book entitled Faith of our Fathers written by James Gibbons, a cardinal of the Catholic church. On page 328 of that book, this is what we can read, and I quote. So we can find within the Catholic church, one of the teachings or doctrines mentioned by Apostle Paul in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 3.

That is in the Catholic church their members, some of their members, mainly the priest, are forbidden to marry. Even the nuns are not allowed to marry. Now how about the other doctrine mentioned by Apostle Paul? That is to abstain from flesh meat or eating meat? Who also possesses that doctrine? We’ll read an excerpt from another book entitled: Manual of Christian Doctrine: Comprising, Dogma, Moral, and Worship. On page 317 of this particular book this is what we can quote: So you have seen what the Bible says, you’ve heard the warnings that Christ gave to his church in the first century. The Apostles confirmed the warnings that many of the disciples would depart from the true faith by following false teachings. You have seen some of the false teachings that were taught to the members of the church, established by Christ which, of course, led many of them away from the faith. Now you’ve also seen the evidence of fulfillment. We don’t have to go and explain and look at every single detail but you have seen it yourself. So we will leave it up to you to decide if you will accept the truth Christ told us.

If you will accept what the Apostles warned us about and what history proves really happened. However, we’re not yet done with the history because we only got a part of the story. Christ did not say, if you still remember, that all the disciples would be led astray or away from the true faith, he said many. Apostle Paul did not say all would depart from the faith. He said some. And so we need to find out what happened to the other members or those who remained faithful Church of Christ members by not following the false teachings. Well the truth may surprise you. It may even be painful. But it is absolutely necessary to know this, because without it you will not truly understand why you belong to the church you belong to today. And more importantly the danger it poses to where you will spend eternity. Now the rest of the story we will reveal to you on our next episode. You don’t wanna miss it. Now the truth, it maybe painful at first, But whether we accept it or not, whether we believe it or not the truth is something we all must face. Thanks for joining us on Face the Truth. See you again next time. God bless.

Your words are influential

June 1, 2020

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Post written by Stteffey Jorgz from Philippines.

Stteffey Jorgz

Dear brethren;

God has given us free will and to speak anything according to our will, we have got free will to do what we want and to shape our life. It was amazing to see the world with our two eyes and to breath the fresh air outside your home.

You are free to see the wild animals, big or small . You are free to explore the vague world around. We are free to do all we want but the important thing I want to tell is that , your action & words you speak is valuable & effective and it can affect someone’s life.

Are you spreading good news or hatred by your action and behavior. Do you mind the word you speak by your own mouth or you use your mouth to talk like a fool. Are you really doing the best to live life or just acting .

Your behavior , your action and your everyday life is valuable and effective and it can influence others. Are you the person who seek the truth or just believe the lie. Are you lazy or like an ant preparing for rainy days. Don’t you know, that whatever you do has it’s own value. Your word can influence other. Your action can influence others. Your post in social media can influence others.

Are you sure that your tongue was talking courageous word to lift up others or making others feel down. Did you imagine the bad words that you post on social media can make others feel tired and weary and disappointed. Do you walk your everyday life with love or you just show it to get impression.

Brothers and sisters, whatever you do has its own cost. Be careful because what you sow , that you reap .

“You can be sure that on the the judgement day you will have to give account of every useless word you have ever spoken. Bible tells “Your words will be used to judge you – declare you either innocent or guilty.” (Matthew 12:36-37). Let us be careful for what we do , what we talk and what we show. Everything has its own price. Let us spread good news , to help others to be courageous, to continue life with full love and grace from Above.

Instead of showing regretful things , let us show others the best life of having a great God in life. Your Word can give life and let’s express it carefully. Make each of your word can be a blessing to others . Be the best disciple of Jesus Christ. Everyone deserve to be saved , but only who choose to believe and accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior can be saved.

John 1:12 says “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” We believe in God and we are the children of God , let’s become more like Christ and express God’s love from our action and behavior.

God bless you 🙂

Who is this GOD we Serve?

May 30, 2020

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This article is written by Ankita Benedicta from Ranchi , India

Ankita Benedicta

Visit Ankita’s blog

I have found that the way people view God will greatly impact their relationship with Him. If we see Him as a harsh taskmaster who is ready to judge our every mistake, this will affect how we approach Him.

Many people struggle with their Christian lives because they have been taught a God who is harsh and angry. Can you even begin to imagine being able to develop a close, intimate, relationship with someone who you believe is always angry with you?

I have met people who believe that God is only able to move in their lives according to how they live. If our lives were able to make a difference in whether or not God loves us would He have sent Jesus to redeem us? Jesus came because there is not a single man or woman who will ever live that could measure up to His standards!

Let’s take a moment and think about what we believe about God. I am sure that every one of us fundamentally believes that He exists even if not serving Him.

So what do you believe about Him? Do you believe that He is a loving God or that He is out to judge your every move? These are important questions that every Christian should think about.

I have found that most of our struggles are not with whether God exists or not. It seems that the struggle is with how we, as mere humans are able to relate directly with Him on a personal level.

One source of our struggle with our view of God is the Word of God. The Old Testament paints a picture of His wrath and judgments being poured out. The New Testament paints an entirely different picture of a loving God who cares deeply for His people.

It almost appears that there is one God in the Old Testament and another one in the New. Obviously this is not true but we can see why people become confused. So how do we settle the differences in how He is depicted?

Let me answer that question by taking you back to my early years in Church. I accepted Jesus in a denominational church that portrayed God as being harsh and ready to judge my every mistake. There were ministers in our denomination who talked about God putting this terrible sick or that one on people to “teach” them a lesson. Even today as I am learning to grow up to be a strong Christian I meet people who tell me about how I will be judged for the life I am living.

I tried to serve God but failed over and over. Whenever I made a mistake I would close my Bible and wait expectantly for judgment to fall. The teaching I was receiving produced a works mentality that did not allow me to experience the true freedom that can only and only be found in Christ.

There is no doubt in my mind that my Christian walk would have ended up in the gutter if I had not been taught the true nature of God.

He sent Jesus because our works would never satisfy His justice.

He poured out His wrath and judgment on Jesus to free mankind from the guilt of sin.

He draws men and women to Himself by His Spirit through His Word with a desire to release us from the bonds of sin.

We will see in the upcoming posts what a wonderful and merciful God we serve. For now though I am going to hit the pause button and leave you with the following Scripture to meditate on:

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (Psalms 85:10).

Thank you for stopping by today. If this post has been a blessing please share our blog with your friends and family.

God bless you !

Be ready to work for God’s kingdom

May 29, 2020

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This article is written by Stteffey Jorgz from Philippines.

Stteffey Jorgz

Do not be afraid in conquering the vision that God has given to you. Because God will provide the strength and all the things that you need in doing his vision for His people.

Let God use you to be the vessel of His goodness, mercy and power. God made you with a purpose , He made you for His glory.

So don’t give up your life in the things that made you stumble, the journey is full of surprises that you don’t want it either, but stand tall for the Lord is with you . And He want you to be His instruments in finding the lost souls of this world.

You are most important than any materials in the world can give. Don’t settle your life in the worldly things. Don’t lose your life for the world, but instead lose your life in the Kingdom Heaven.

Matthew 10:39 reads as “Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.”

God bless you !

Let not your ego be hurt

March 31, 2020

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Hello folks..! hope you are doing well , I am prompted to write something related to ego today.

Ego in simple term is “the sense of our own value and importance.”

Ego helps us define our behaviour towards everything, because ego let us know the real worth of ourselves.

But what about the situation when our ego is hurt.

And this is the topic I want to write about.

Ego of a person is hurt when a person has negative thinking pattern.
It’s very important for we people to have a positive thinking pattern.

When our importance is not valued by others we feel ignored and our ego is hurt.

All the time we want the things to happen in our way , we are reluctant to change.This affects our ego in a negative way and our ego is hurt.

We must check ourselves when our ego is being hurt again and again.. because it means certainly & surely there are some flaws in ourselves.

And what’s that flaws ??

It’s surely and certainly “our negative thinking pattern”

Even when we don’t get much value and importance, even when we don’t get priority , we should be happy . Our ego can only be hurt if we allow the negative thoughts to rule in our mind.

I want to list some qualities which we must have and practice in our daily life. These qualities help us think in a positive way.

Your ego will never be hurt when you have these qualities.

1. Humbleness
2. Open minded (open to different ideas )

When we become humble, we have higher self control and we won’t get angry very soon, being humble also results in better relationships because when we are humble , we accept others easily the way they are.

Open minded – When we are open minded, our learning potential increases and our knowledge area expands as We start accepting others ideas .

When we learn these two qualities and have them in our heart, we start thinking in a positive manner and our ego cannot be hurt by anyone.
We need to practice this behaviour in order to make our ego hurt Proof.

Practice it,
Learn being humble and open minded.
And your ego will never be hurt…

Becoming humble and open minded also helps in becoming successful in life and we could see God’s Amazing blessings in our Life.

As the Holy Bible tells : For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. – (Luke 14:11)

One who humbles himself will be exalted, let’s learn to be humble ; not because we want a higher position in our society , but let’s be humble because God wants his Children to be humble, further more being humble also helps to stay happy in Life.

God bless you !

Thankfulness

May 22, 2019

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Being thankful in all circumstances is an attitude that every human should have. Gratitude or thankfulness is a quality that i believe must be the quality of every human being .This is a quality that could be developed only by practicing . Today i want to focus on being thankful in all circumstances.

So let’s move forward.

When we are thankful we could see many positive results in our life, when we are thankful in our life we get more relationships and ultimately this helps us in the time of need .

Being thankful also improves our overall physical and mental health which has been proved in the research as well.

Biblical perspective of thankfulness

In Bible Paul the Apostle writes in 1^st Thessalonians 5 : 18 “Give thanks in all circumstances ; for this is the God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

God want his people to give thanks in all types of circumstances whether we are going through trials and tribulation or even when we celebrate something , we should never stop thanking .

We should thank God because He is the good God , whatever happens in our life is not hidden from God’s eyes , and whatever happens with us is for our betterment . When we thank we become humble before God and God’s blessings start flowing in our life.

Reduces anxiety

In Philippians 4:6 we read “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

When we pray to God with thanksgiving in the midst of our anxiety then then God restores our happiness ,God sees our heart of thankfulness and gives us the heavenly blessings.

Thanking God is worship

We should know that when we thank God we worship Him , thanking God is worshipping God. And worshipping God opens many doors in our life to receive His blessings .

Let’s keep thanking the Lord Jesus because He has done great things , one of them is He ( Jesus ) died for us on the cross so that our sins are forgiven and we could reach Heaven.

Let’s thank him because whatever happens in our life is God’s plan and our situation is never hidden from God.

Let’s start our day early morning with the saying the word “Thank you Jesus” .

Let’s say “Thank you Jesus for all the blessings you have provided for me which i could not see right now” .

Let’s say “thank you Jesus “ before we sleep

And I believe that God’s blessings will flow in our life with abundance.

Thanks for reading my article. Drop your comment in comment box below.

God bless you !

God bless u.

Hope in dark times

November 3, 2018

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” No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.”- George Chakiris.

Yes ! Love and hope is always possible, whatever the situation we are dealing with . There comes time where we find ourselves in the dark part of the darkest situation in life, but not loosing hope and being optimistic really bring positive results, especially for those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since Jesus sacrificed His life to forgive us so that we could have eternal life; He actually displayed His love for us.

Now since we know that Jesus loves us so we have a hope because of Jesus , the one Who can sacrifice His life to forgive us our sins can do anything for us. So we have a hope and a alive Hope that whatever the situations we are going through ;we will be delivered because there is Jesus who loves us abundantly. And we have a never ending hope in Him.

Is ‘hope‘ our need ?

First let’s look at the dictionary meaning of hope – “Hope : a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.”

The feeling of expectation we have is known as our hope. But what to hope for ? We hope for something when we need something and we do not know when and how our expectation will be fulfilled and that is the moment of hope. Whatever the situation we have in life but life always keeps moving forward and hope is like a fuel which helps the vehicle of life move forward smoothly , so yes we need hope so that our life would keep moving forward smoothly. Furthermore having Hope brings joy and happiness in our life, and being happy is all we need in our life.

Scene from a hospital

I happened to visit CMC ( Vellore) hospital in India in October 2018. As it is one of the top hospitals in India ; patients from allover India do come for treatment. Even foreigners do come for treatment. What I saw there that people out there were desperate for the treatment, different patients had different types of disease and all waiting for their appointments with doctor, they all were hoping for better treatment in a top hospital, their eyes shining with the Ray of hope that everything will be okay because they were in a top hospital. But there were some other patients who felt hopelessness inside their heart because there are some disease which can only be treated to some extent using medical science. Their faces looked dull and faded. They cannot be cured and healed fully.

At this times the only hope they can have is hope for positive outcome through the God.

Jesus is the hope giver. Whenever we come across bad times in life, whether sickness or any type of trials and tribulations ; we should always hope for God’s help for the deliverance from the dark situation. And that brings positive result.

Jeremiah 29:11 says ” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord “plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The last part of the verse tells us that God gives us Hope, so as God gives hope so now whenever we come across such situations of hopelessness and despair ; we must pray to God for a new Ray of hope in the life so as to live the life to the fullest.

Faith, Hope, Love

While we are talking about hope; we must include these topics of Faith , Hope and Love as they all are strongly connected. We cannot hope for anything from the one who does not love us, but we can only hope from someone who loves us and loves us strongly. Jesus gave his life for us , He showed the love to us and so we have a hope in Him in every moment of life and especially in bad times.

And now Hope is a road and faith is a destination, in fact Hope is the road to destination called Faith. When there is hope ; there is faith. And that’s what God wants us to have, to have faith in him.

Hebrews 11 : 1 says ” Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen” So now we see hope and faith goes hand in hand, when we have hope along with faith , our expectations and desires are fulfilled .

Hope and Faith are complimentary to each other.

We have a hope when we go through trials and tribulation in life. And our hope is fulfilled with faith , God does not only want us to have hope but He wants us to have faith in Him together with hope, because God works in our life according to our faith in Him : Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 ” Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen” . Faith and hope are complimentary to each other .

I would like to add one more verse : Romans 10: 17 – So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. Faith is like a seed which is when planted in our heart it needs nutrition to flourish lively. The word of God in Bible is is the nutrients of faith which help the faith in our heart to flourish. According to the scriptures in Romans 10:17 we need to keep hearing the word of God and keep reading Bible so our faith flourishes and our expectations and desires is fulfilled.

Now we know that we cannot loose hope even in the darkest situations in life because Jesus loves us and what we hope for is fulfilled for us according to our Faith .

MAY GOD BLESS YOU !

Perfect Relationship

October 12, 2018

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Relationship means the way in which two or more people or things are connected. Relationship is a connection between two or more persons . When we talk about social relationship the relationship is made up of love, trust and respect . The word relationship simply describes the connection between two or more people , let it be a relationship between a doctor and patient , man and woman , parents and children , etc. Love , trust and respect binds the relationship.

Best Relationship

Which do you think is the best relationship ?

-It’s not the relationship between girlfriend/boyfriend, even they get break ups and are pushed to depression sometimes. It’s all because there is selfishness in their love. They always expect something in return for their love.

– It’s not even a relationship between a mother and her baby. Even mother may forget to take proper care of her baby.

The best relationship is the relationship between a man and the creator of mankind. God’s love is totally unique, there is no selfishness, His love is unconditional, when we maintain a healthy relationship with God, we can enjoy His company and the happiness which is there in God’s company cannot be compared to any type of happiness in the world. He is very caring to his Children. Isaiah 49:16 says See, ” I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” This means that we are always before God’s eyes, He protect us against all the evils.

How to get connected to God

– While in a worldy relationships we try to maintain the relationship by showing love and affection and we even feel good to spend time with them which strengths the relationship, we take part in their joys and sorrows, these are all the ways which strengthens the bond of relationship in this world.

But to maintain a healthy relationship with God we only and only need to be holy. Holiness is the way by which we get connected to God and furthermore we could understand the way He works in our life. God don’t need we people rather we need God. All the promises of God comes true in our life when we lead a life of holiness. We may fall sometime while walking a holy life but He always helps us when we pray to God for the help. God help us to lead a life of holiness.

HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO MAINTAIN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

Well so this is the life we have got only once, there is an end of our physical life. Our soul never die even if we die physically. There will be a judgement day when we will be judged according to our deeds.

Bible tells in 2 Corinthians 5:10

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
We must be Holy and enjoy the company of God. There is a different type of happiness in praising and worshipping the true Heavenly Father Jesus Christ.
And such happiness cannot be found elsewhere. All we need is to taste and see how wonderful and great is the love of God. We have to avoid Hell and we have to pursue Heaven.

Jesus Christ and His children

This is the best relationship, the relationship between Jesus and mankind.

John 3:16 says “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

All we need to do is to believe in God who sent His son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and He rose from dead and is still alive. He forgive all our sins and washes our heart and mind and body and soul with His precious blood which was spent for our forgiveness. And Jesus makes us Holy.

Let’s keep ourselves Holy and worship Him and enjoy God’s company. There is fullness of joy in the presence of the Holy God.

NEWSPAPER

Different religions

Post written by Stteffey Jorgz from Philippines.

This article is written by Ankita Benedicta from Ranchi , India

This article is written by Stteffey Jorgz from Philippines.

” No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.”- George Chakiris.

Is ‘hope‘ our need ?

Scene from a hospital

Faith, Hope, Love

Hope and Faith are complimentary to each other.