Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas

Tis’ the season to give thanks, again! A time for celebration, and a time to bless and be blessed. Sounds like the past couple months all summed up, huh. What this isn’t though… this is not a time to leave cookies for Santa, or sit on his lap at the mall, or stress over this being the worst Christmas ever. Yes I said it! As long as you realize Jesus Christ who died for your sins was born this season, you can have the best Christmas you’ve been able to live through.



I’ll be honest for a bit (not that I haven’t ever been… in my devotionals that is...), but I just looked up Christmas in the dictionary to see if the “mas” meant anything, like “birth” or something and I didn’t find that. What I did find was that one definition defined it as a Christian celebration turned American holiday. Now, that made me a little mad (if you couldn’t tell already)! But then I thought to myself, “at least it referred to Christianity.” Just the whole separation from church and state thing with going from Christian to American thing got me a bit heated. Some government we have!



Getting back to Christ though, the story of His birth is as familiar as any of the other great tales, and is equally memorable and equally significant as his death. Oh big whoop, a baby was born! No! Back in the book of Genesis, the world was given no chances. You sinned, you died, or drowned in a freakin flood! No questions asked! But over 2000 years ago, around this time God gave us a chance and with that chance another, and another, and another. And what do we give? Don’t know about you, but I gave my life, my heart, my soul, and am now working up my talents for the advancement of his kingdom, and still wouldn’t be able to match his grace if there were two of me!



It was suggested that I speak from the heart when writing for you guys, and I welcome any feedback from those who take the time out to read what I have to… write, and so from my heart, I just wanted to express this message. I’m slowly beginning to realize we go through hard times to buff us toward the greatness God has planned for us - much like pressure on coal creates diamonds. It’s something I live by and wear on my favorite hat. But I thank God for having me go through hard times this Christmas. It’s a learning and growing process I’m very thankful for.



So in closing, please remember the real reason for this season, give thanks, bless and blessed if you can, but furthermore, while it is my main man Jesus’ birthday, remember your father blessed you with the ultimate opportunity on that faithful day. If you don’t get what you want, know that God truly knows the desires of your heart and there may be a reason for it! If you don’t get anything, know you’ve received everything (that endless opportunity) from your heavenly father! And if you get everything you wanted… you lucky little… Christian! And to the next person who says “Happy Holidays!” to you, don’t hesitate to politely correct them by replying with “Mary(I know how it’s spelled!) Christmas and a blessed New Year to you too!” …Happy New Year works too, though!



Merry Christmas guys!

C.j.

what's the real reason?

I want to touch on the real reason for this season. We need to be reminded of it because it is very easy to forget. The black fridays, getting gifts for family and friends, all the advertisements and commercials of the next best gift to buy for someone. It can get distracting and for some people it gets overwhelming. I am not saying that all this is wrong. It's fun to get gifts and to give them (Remember...Jesus said, "it is better to give than to receive"). But we can get so caught up in all this stuff that we lose the real meaning of why we celebrate Christmas.

Do you want to know the real reason for the celebration of Christmas? Good. The reason we celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A little over 2000 years ago Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary. That's right she was a virgin. How could she give birth to a child if she was a virgin? I am glad you asked. God supernaturally planted His seed inside of Mary so that she could give birth to the Savior of the world. It's what we call 'the immaculate conception'. It wasn't natural but supernatural. Jesus is a supernatural person who came to become like us so that he could understand what we go through and then take our place on the cross to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven. His birth forever changed the course of this world. And that's why we celebrate Christmas.

In all the hustle of getting and receiving gifts and all the commercialness (don't know if that's a real word but I hope you get what I am saying) of the season please don't forget that our Savior Jesus Christ was born so that you could have the life you were meant to have. Don't forget the "Christ" in Chirstmas and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Have a Merry Christmas!!! And if you have not given your life to this Jesus that we talk about please don't hesitate to contact us and we can help.

Mick

Thank you Jesus!

Psalm 69:30 (The Message) Let me shout God's name with a praising song,
Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks.
Have you ever stopped and really listened to all the negativity that is around you? How about the negativity in your own mind? I have a friend that is pretty certain that she has always and will always get the “raw deal” in life. She is convinced that everything bad happens to her, and that she can’t do anything to stop it.


The enemy of our souls (the Devil) would have to us to look at everything that is wrong in our lives. In relationships he would have us to look and each other’s faults. I think of all the divorces there are in the world, of the all the people who used to be friends, of the families that used to be close. You know somewhere inside them they still love each other…but what went wrong? I believe one of the biggest things is that they stopped appreciating the good things about one another and only began focusing on the bad.
It is so easy in this day and age to get caught up in all the bad there is in the world and in everything that’s wrong. One of the biggest ways to combat this is by thanksgiving! I have found that a powerful tool in my live to combat the forces of darkness is to look for the good things in my life and thank God for them! Every single day of my life I can not go a day without thanking God for something. And usually it’s multiple things. I can thank him for all the people that love me. I can thank him for my job in the midst of this crashing economy. I can thank him for a beautiful day with blue skies and green grass!
The Bible says that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights….” (James 1:17).
Thank God for the good things in your life. It doesn’t matter how small! It will re-focus your mind. Instead of only negativity all around you, you will realize that there are many good things in your life that if it were not for God would not be there! It will make you happier! It will give you joy when everyone is worried, anxious or sad. And you will be able to tell them why you can smile!

Be blessed,
Arlene

thanks

In this devotional I want you to think about two simple words. They are simple but they are two of the most powerful words in our language that we take for granted. Do you know what they are? You guessed it, THANK YOU! It is the holiday of Thanksgiving and I want to focus your attention on the words "thank you".

Can I ask you a question? Have you ever done something for someone and they never said thank you? You went out of your way, above and beyond what you normally would do and you didn't even get a look. How did that make you feel? I try not to get offended or upset because I do things for people because I have the love of God but sometimes it has gotten to me. But what about those people who are thankful for what you do for them? They always say "thank you" and not only that but they give you back more in return than what you gave them. I know most of you have not experienced that. I understand. But you would be more willing to do something for the person who thanked you and gave you back more in return than the one who did not even acknowledge you.

The bible says "in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you". If you want to know what you are supposed to be doing in life, don't worry, I just gave you the master key. "Give thanks". That's what you do. "Give thanks". Thank God for your parents (I know that can be hard sometimes but it will change you), thank God for your friends, thank God that you have the opportunity to get an education, thank God that you have clothes, thank God that you have food to eat, thank God that you can walk, thank God you can see, thank God that you can breathe, and thank God that He sent His son to die for us on the cross so that we could go back to our highest way of living.

And not only are we to give thanks but "in everything give thanks". That means in every circumstance and situation. Even if things don't look good give thanks, even if you are broke or your heart is broke, even if you have problems in your home or school, or with anything, you still give thanks. Not only will it make you feel better, but who knows what God will do for you if you are thankful. Remember the example about the one who gave thanks and the one who didn't. Who do you want to be? Give thanks!!!

Mick

Money is Power

While the world will tell you money makes the world go ‘round, we as Christians know the truth as to what’s really important. When you leave, all you’ve worked for here on Earth won’t amount to anything in heaven. UNLESS… you do what’s right with what you work for.

I’m sure we’ve all been pasted in front of the TV, drooling over other’s wealth and riches from the nicest houses to the sweetest rides, and other crazy luxuries, and to be honest, it’d be nice to have all of that. Time and time again, I have to ask myself is it wrong to have all that and still be a Christian. And while I’m still searching for an answer I know in my heart that it’s not God’s will for Christians to be poor.

While I don’t believe that money makes the world go ‘round, I do truly believe that “money is power”. Money is a means to get things accomplished at a faster rate and I can assure you that if all Christians were rich, this would be a better world. (Ya’ll know me, If I spent the time to get into the possibilities, this would be another devotional in need of a part two.) I believe that when you put money in the right persons hand they can do amazing things, and although one person can’t change the world, one step towards change is progress.

I believe money is beautiful as power because it’s a heavenly lasso, so to say. I believe that with doing the right thing, blessings will come. But when take something you work hard for or “earn” and lift it to God, even more blessings will come. And I’ll take a blessing over working hard for money any day! But this is why it’s very important to participate in tithes and offering.

In my… “earlier” youth, I use to think giving tithes and offering were the same thing. They are two completely different things and at my Church, presented at two different times to further drive the principle. We receive the tithes first, because that’s 10% of what you’ve earn offered to God as a sign of your faithfulness to him, as well as an indicator that you trust him in your finances. You’d have to be really dumb not to want God’s hand in your pocket. All he’s pulling out is 10% and in return your hand gets to be in his. I like the thought of God’s pockets! Shoot!

Offering on the other hand is like a gift that shows God how much more you love him and believe in his blessings. My pastor refers to offering time as preparing your harvest or seeding your blessings. I love how we save the offering for the end of the service as well because nothing compares to sewing a seed in a positive atmosphere where you just know a harvest will grow. It’s like planting a seed in the most fertile and healthiest of soils and watering it with… Fiji water! (That’s “God’s Water” if you didn’t know. If you’ve tasted it, you know what I’m talking about) But getting back to the principal, offering is so much more than “spending money at church”. You tithe because it’s what God’s entitled to. You offer because that’s truly your chance thank God, be it for something he’s already done, or something he’s about to do.

So next time, you’re sitting in your pew or on your row of chairs and you see that bucket coming your way. Don’t be selfish and think about what you need the money for or what you have to buy, or how much more of your money the church is taking from you. We all have felt this way one time or another. But have the power within yourself to bind those thoughts from your mind. Look at your tithes and offering as “God’s money”, not yours, and be thankful your Church has given you an opportunity to send your blessing to God. And if that’s not good enough for you, think about the air conditioned room you sit in, or the lights you sit under, and any other luxuries you have or may even need in your church and make an investment towards them or help keep them going.

That’s all for this month! Just keep these things in mind. Remember the difference between tithes and offering and you WILL be blessed. Let’s get rich together Christians! We can easily do this by putting God’ first!



- C.j.

make money money make money Money MONEY....

This round's topic will be about MONEY! I know you have probably heard a lot of stuff on the news and TV about the financial crisis in America. I am not going to mention the crisis very much because the media has done a good job of doing that. They have done a good job of putting fear in the hearts of people in America to the point where people are scared to make moves concerning their finances. I know first hand because I help people with house mortgages and some don't want to make a move simply because of what they hear on the news even though they should be making a move. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the crisis in America. I want to give you some good news. What if I told you that you don't have to be hurt by the financial crisis not only in America but in the world? What if I told you that there was another economy that is not the least bit hurt by what is going on in the world? And what if I told you that this economy is not getting hurt by the financial crisis in the world but it is actually doing very good in spite of all the stuff that is going on in our economy? Would you want to get in on it? I mean think about it. You wouldn't be hurt by rising gas prices, food prices, and all the other stuff that is going on. Do you want to know where to find this economy? I thought you would never ask. I must warn you, this economy is under a different kind of government than what you grew up in. It's different but better. Trust me. I have lived under both governments and I would not want to live under any kind of government than the one I am about to share with you. I guess I should tell you now, right? God's government and it's economy is not suffering right now. The money in God's economy is not short. The real citizens of this economy have so much that it is not funny. But I must tell you, in order to benefit from this economy you must live by and obey it's rules. And one of the rules of this government concerning your money is to partner with the President of the government , by doing what He tells you to do with your money, with the hope of getting much more than you gave in return. Can you imagine? Let me show you something. Say you have a credit card, right? What would happen if you were not making your payments on the credit card and you were always late and then you decided to call the company to see if they would give you more credit on your card? Would they give you the credit that you asked for or would they deny you? They would deny you, right? Why? Because you did not live up to their standards, which was to make your payments and make them on time. Now, what if you always made your payments and you always made them on time and you decided to give them a call so that they could give you more credit? Would they give it to you? I think they would. Why? Because you always made the payments and they were always on time, which were the guidelines that they set for you. Can you imagine if you had good credit with God? One of His guidelines is to give 10% of what you make. He says "bring your tithes (10% of what you make) and offerings (extra) into my storehouse (your local church?) that I may have meat (money) in my house, and prove me (test me) and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you would not have room enough to receive" I encourage you to live by God's rules when it comes to your money. When you live by his rules that means you get the benefits of His economy which are not hurt by our economies and by our mistakes. When you live by His rules concerning your money you have good credit with Him. And when ever you need more credit all you have to do is call Him.

WOW!
-Mick

anyone interested in sex?

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself WHY it is such a driving force?

As you already know Sex is everywhere. In TV, Magazines, Movies, Books; Your friends are talking about it, people you know are doing it and you want to do it (at least eventually)! But what are the rules of sex? Do you do it on a first date? Do you have to be dating? Do you have to be in love? Should you wait until you are married? What’s the answer? Who’s right and who’s wrong? Does it even matter? People have sex all the time with no consequences. Your friend that did it didn’t get pregnant or get a disease. Even if you know someone who got pregnant or got a disease, it’s not going to happen to you! What’s the big deal?

God created sex and he created rules to go with it. The Bible actually talks about it!

Fornication is having sex with someone you are not married to. Adultery is when you are married but you have sex with someone who is not your spouse. Homosexuality is having sex with someone who is the same gender as you. God was very specific. The devil has come in to lie, kill, steal and destroy. He wants to kill God and take his place. But the good news for us is that he can never do that. God is too big and powerful. Since he can’t get to God, he’s going to go after something that God loves and that is people!

Every rule that God set up the enemy lies and says the opposite (i.e. as long as you love him….. if my spouse doesn’t make me happy I will find someone who does…..you can love anybody you want to, doesn’t matter girl or guy…. ). As a result of people believing the lies of the devil the world has gone crazy. People are dying from diseases such as Aids. Young girls and young guys are having babies when they don’t know how to be parents yet. People are walking around feeling washed out and used up at a young age. (ROMANS 1:18-32)

Well, I’m here to tell you that when you follow God’s rules for sex it is AWESOME! My husband and I had sex before we were married. You might ask, “what’s the big deal? You didn’t get pregnant and you got married anyway? SIN will always but up a barrier between you and God. I felt embarrassed and I felt like I couldn’t tell anyone. I knew we had crossed God’s line and my intimacy with God suffered. It’s was like losing my best friend. I couldn’t come and talk to Him until I repented and asked him to forgive me. And what’s more is that even though we got married we wished we would have waited until we were married! We’ve talked about how much more special it would have been and we would not have had the burden of guilt that we felt. The good news is that we asked God to forgive us and he did!

Don’t envy others. Don’t ask “if they can, why can’t I”. The answer is that you are not them. God has a very special calling and destiny for your life, but you have to follow the rules to get the results he intends. EVERYBODY has had to deal with sex and MOST people have struggled. Don’t be ashamed to ask questions. Just ask the questions to those who can show you God’s answers…your parents, your youth leaders, someone at church you who trust. It’s never too late to start doing it God’s way! (PSALMS 73)



Be Blessed,

Arlene

doing it right

When you’re young the word sex and everything about it is funny for some reason. Past the point of puberty, things change pretty quickly. Almost the opposite happens. Cooties and the war against the other gender is what becomes funny. It’s that youthful peer pressure that forces our young souls to become accepting of the other sex, and kissing and all that good stuff isn’t icky anymore. It’s welcomed… because that’s what everyone else is doing.

I never understood how sex and baseball became so alike, but it seemed very sportlike to get to the next base. That’s just what you do, and there’s no questioning it. But that’s only true for the world. When you grow up Christian, it’s a lot different. You’re parents know you’re growing and these things are to come. They want to do their best to keep you clear of the pressures of such things, but don’t want you to rebel and do it anyway at the same time. Same with drugs and all of these other teenage epidemics.

I’m sure it serves the same in a lot of Christian households, but in mine, the law was that sex was to be saved for marriage. Back then, I really couldn’t see why, but the fact that it didn’t seem the same for the world kept me puzzled.

Today looking back on it, I can see for reasons other than religion, it was really a good idea. The negatives of sex are either disease or unwanted pregnancy, or both! In my opinion, sex should serve two purposes: Procreation and Intimacy. The world makes it out to be something recreational or just something to do for fun, or to feel wanted or loved. Procreation and Intimacy should be practiced between lovers. That just how I see it. And who else better to love, than your spouse – whomever you’re married to. That way you’ve had time to be married and prepare yourself for a family. Sex after marriage greatly reduces the risk of disease as well. Promiscuity, or having sex with multiple people is a lot less welcome when you’re married, at least for the faithful. But besides all that, it’s just better to wait.

Now speaking from experience as a teen and a young man in the same, sex is a very powerful tool the devil loves to use. Sexual sin ranges from lust, to masturbation, all the way to fornication. I’m sure a lot of you know what these things are, but to bring us back to elementary: Lust is sexual thoughts; Masturbation is practicing sexual acts alone, and Fornication is having sexual intercourse before marriage (or at least along those lines). Without getting into too much detail, my experiences as a growing boy were haunted by sexual sin on a daily basis making it a struggle for me to live righteously.

At times, I felt the only thing Satan had on me was sexual sin when I was doing everything else right and I began thinking being a Christian was too hard. It was frustrating, depressing, and just a negative experience. I felt weak and very alone at times. Turning to my youth leaders was one of the greatest decisions in the struggle. They let me know that I wasn’t alone at all in my struggle and many people go through the same. Knowing that alone didn’t help me through the struggle though. It just made it somewhat acceptable.

To this day I still struggle with keeping my mind free from sin. I speak for many young men when I say it’s hard. (Ladies, I honestly don’t know how it is with you, but I can only talk what I know… sorry!) The devil is a coward and attacks when you’re most vulnerable, or at your weakest, and uses my weakness against me more than anything.

He under-estimates my strength and desire to please God time and time again however. Things I like to do to keep myself right are:

- Seeking help from God through prayer.

When I know in my heart and soul I’m out to do the right thing and please God, I know and feel God understands my struggle and is more than willing to help me. I pray for strength and guidance from God to aid me in doing the right thing and staying on the right path. I of course seek forgiveness as well. If your hearts in the right place you have to believe he’ll forgive you as long as you’re willing to change.

- Seeking guidance in the Word.

I’ve found relief in the word many times in my bible. When it may seem like you’re not finding what your searching for, that just means you’ve gotta be sure to stay in the word. I never said I found it right away, but I thank God I stayed in the word long enough to be able to benefit from it through my struggle. With that said, a verse that often helps me is 1 Thessalonians 4:3. “It’s God’s will that you keep away from sexual sin as a mark of your devotion to him.” It helps me put God and I in a relationship where falling under the influence of sexual sin is like cheating on him and drives me toward being faithful that much more. I also like to prove my devotion to God through doing so. Other scriptures that help me are in 1 Corinthians. 6:13 says, “The body is not for sexual sin but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.” 6:18 speaks on how sexual sin is different from all other sin, and how you sin against your body (God’s Temple) when you fall under sexual sin. I look at that like vandalizing or destroying something precious to God.

- Seeking help from someone you trust.

I’ve turned to many people, on numerous occasions in my youth, like male ministers and even my dad. It may seem very embarrassing talking to someone about things like that but that’s why I said turn to someone you know you can trust. I thought I’d be punished for telling my dad, or looked at differently by my youth leaders, but thankfully that was never the case. Every time they shared their own struggles, or expressed to me that I wasn’t the only one going through it. It’s a very relieving process though. Just be sure your help is from someone who could understand, meaning someone the same sex as you. I think my mom would refer me to me dad if I told her, and it would make for an awkward situation for me to talk to a female minister about such a thing.

But that’s about it for this devotional. Thank you for taking all this time out to listen! I pray this be blessing to your life, should you need it.

sex lies

They talk about it on TV, in commercials, in movies, on songs, and you talk about it at school. So why not talk about it on the Cross Over devotionals and find out the truth about sex. Sex is something I grew up thinking was just something we were supposed to do whenever you had a chance. I mean everyone else at school was doing it (so they said) and so that was the thing to do. My closest friends were doing it so it's just a part of what you do. That's what I thought. The music I listened to talked about it, they did it in the movies I watched so it was alright to do it with any girl I thought was cute that gave me the chance. And plus no one ever told me there was anything wrong with it. As long as you had protection it was all good. So before I got to high school I had sex. Then in tenth grade I got drunk and had sex with a girl that I probably would not have slept with had I not had soo many drinks. Do you know what happened? I caught something and it was pretty painful. I could tell you some stories but just to keep things short I want to make a few points. Sex is good, and it's clean, and it's right, and it's perfect. Trust me I am married and I can say that sex is awesome! It's only good, clean, right, and perfect at the right time. Sex was created by God to be performed inside of a marriage covenant. Do you know when the right time to have sex is? That's right. When you get married. I know that society will tell you otherwise. The world will tell you it's okay to do anything as long as it feels good. Just because it feels good does not mean that you should do it whenever you feel like doing it. I feel like punching my boss sometimes and I know it would feel good if I did, but does that mean I should do it? No, of course not. I would get fired and probably thrown in jail. Who knows? I would have hit him and it would have felt good but what are the consequences. I have no job, therefore no money, and now I am spending time in jail. For what? Because I wanted to do something that felt good. Would it be worth it? I don't think so. It's the same with sex. Just because you think it would feel good to do it does not mean you should do it illegally. Do you know what I mean by illegally? It's legal all day long when you are married but it's illegal outside of marriage. Maybe you don't feel loved and you think sex will fix your problem. It will only make matters worse. Maybe you want to fit in and you want your friends to think highly of you because you had sex. Would it be worth it for you to catch an STD just to impress people? Trust me it's not. As I mentioned earlier I got burned once and it was not worth it. I want to end you with this. Sex is right but only at the right time. Ladies, if he is not willing to wait until marriage then he doesn't love you. Fellas, I know how you feel. But trust me if you wait, it will be worth it. It's like playing sports. A running back in football can't just run wherever he wants whenever he wants to. The best running backs are the patient ones because they know how to wait for their blocks. The best hitters in baseball don't just swing at everything because they would strike out all the time. They wait for a good pitch they can hit. A good shooter in basketball doesn't shoot the ball every time he gets the ball. He creates opportunities and when he is open he shoots the ball. Your opportunity is when you get married. Wait. I'm telling you it's worth it. God said, "A man should leave mother and father and cleave unto his WIFE..." Notice he said WIFE. That means they are married. God said sex was okay as long as you are married. If God said it's okay then it's okay but it has to be the right time.

Mick

Seeing is believing… NOT!

The world uses the term faith loosely and throws it around like any other word and as vain as the phrases, “Oh my god!” or “Jesus!” I personally can’t go without thinking of God when exercising faith or think about faith. Faith is another one of those powerful words with multiple meanings.

As Arlene explained in her devotional, there is “Faith” – the noun – and “faith” – the verb.

Faith when expressed as a noun has religious ties, like the “Christian Faith” for example. It still means belief, but it’s a religious belief. Like a belief in Buddha, or Allah... or like a belief in Christ.

Faith as a verb is “to believe”. It’s the discipline and strength to believe in the impossible. To know the desires of your heart will happen, when and how you want or expect them to. Faith is also a belief in things you cannot see.(Hebrews 11:1) That’s why when the world says “Seeing is believing”, I disagree. Faith is believing! You don’t need to see everything to believe. I’ve used air as an example before. I can’t see air. Don’t know about you, but the world seems to make us believe it’s there. There’s no question about that! And it’s just so hard for them to wrap their minds around Christ rising from the dead, or even believe in his existence. If they didn’t see it, it couldn’t have been true! 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Our lives are guided by faith, not by sight.” So believe that! If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power, 1 Corinthians 15:17.

To me, faith is believing strongly with my heart on something, and knowing it will come to pass with the help of Christ. With my trust already in him, the impossible part is for what I believe not to come true.

Faith is power though, and like Spider-man’s grandma said, with great power comes great responsibility. And with that said, you have to know that in order for your faith to work at its peak power, you have to continue doing what is right and what makes your heavenly father proud. Faith by itself is dead if it doesn’t cause you to do any good things, James 2:17.

Doubt, the opposite of faith, can easily come over you when you misuse your faith. Expecting your faith to pull through for you, when you aren’t doing the right things is useless. Things might not work in your favor and the result of that can easily become doubt. We’ve all probably been through this. So why not keep our faith strong, and make sure it continues to work for us and not against us.

Be strong!

- C.j.

Faith Acts

Hebrews 11 (Amplified Bible)
1...NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Hebrews 11 (The Message)
2…The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

For as long as I've been in church (and it's been almost my entire life) I've heard about faith. It's believing in something you can't see with your physical eyes. If you believe that Jesus died on a cross for your sins, you have faith. You didn't see it yourself, you weren't there but you're confident it happened.

This aspect of faith I got down. Faith lets us own what we believe. If we 'own' what we have faith for then we will live based according to this.

Look at verse 2. Faith goes from just being a noun (the name of a thing) to being a verb (an action).

The act of faith. What is the act of faith? The act of faith is when we act according to our faith! There are thousands of people around us who say they believe in Jesus who do not live accordinly! What does 'living for God' mean? I'm sure you've heard the expression at some point. When we love God, we believe in the Bible and we belive that what is in His Word is the truth. So if the Bible says 'do not steal' we don't steal! If it says to obey our parents, then we obey! If it says love and forgive, we love and forgive! If it says 'do not lean or walk in your own understanding (or wisdom) and lean on God in all you do' then guess what we do?!

Faith is not just a belief, it's living based on this belief.

Look at John 2...

14What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?

The bottom line is that if we have faith, we will live by it. We will act like it. How do you know how to act and what to do? The answer is the Bible. Don't just read it and believe it.... if you truly believe it you will act like it's true in all aspects of you life!

We have may great examples to go by. I challenge you this week to pick up your bible and read the entire chapter of Hebrew 11. If you're unfamiliar with some of the stories it is referring to, look it up!

Be blessed and stay strong!!!

Arlene

{{{spirit filled}}}

I’ve been spirit filled for some time, but I can remember back when I was young(er) and still learning about Christianity. I remember being in the sanctuary with all the grown ups, and when in the atmosphere of worship, they were mumbling things that sounded like Spanish but surely wasn’t Spanish! I’ll admit I was freaked out a little, but at the time, I figured that’s what strong mature Christians did. So of course, my curiosity came out of me, and I just HAD to ask what they were doing, and it was the first time I ever heard of the term, Speaking in Tongues. I’m not even going to get into how weird that sounded to me. But as I continued to watch my elders and continued to mature, I later learned that Tongues was a secret language between you and God, and this secret language is a very powerful weapon which I began to use against satan (Do you believe my word processor actually has the audacity to make me capitalize that!?!).

Did you know that the devil can hear your prayers? I was heated when I found this out, and could easily look back over everything I’d prayed for, and could see how the devil fought for it not to come to pass. I picked up speaking in tongues real quick then!

So, I’m assuming you’ve read Part One of this devotional, and if not, YOU’RE SLACKIN, but for those who have, and know what it’s like to be spirit filled (Ooh, makes you wanna read it now, don’t it?) to speak in tongues, you pray with a combination of being lead by the spirit. By that I mean (here’s what I do):

- Close your eyes [eliminate distractions]
- Pray with your mind [pray quietly! (because your body is about to be busy)]
- Allow your spirit to encode your prayer out loud

I lost you there didn’t I? (If not, that was the Holy Spirit havin your back.) But you have to understand, when you pray in the spirit (also called interceding) you’re speaking a holy language. Kinda like Spanish or something. Don’t you ‘very much dislike’ when you don’t know another language too well, and people around you are talking and you can’t tell what they’re saying! Well the devil HATES when you intercede to God and can’t tell what you’re saying. This is what you do when you pray in tongues. It’s basically you and God talking, and the devil trying to eavesdrop, when the Holy Spirit walks up chanting “LALALALALALA!” really loudly while the devil is trying to listen.

And that’s basically my take on Interceding. My greatest experience with it, was about a year ago from today, when I embarked on my first trip out of the US on my first missions trip (“Lemme go! Lemme go!”). I’ve never before prayed that much in 9 days, let alone in tongues. And it was an experience of being very close to God that I’ll take with me until Jesus returns (to what grave?!).

I can easily link all the feelings I’ve manage to express through both these devotionals to illustrate to you now how great a relationship you can have with the Holy Spirit. Through the missionary experience I’ve just explained to you, I wanted to show you how the Holy Spirit and I became best friends. From this full devotional, the experience I’ve gained is reuniting with a long lost friend. I hope you can take something with you from this experience friends. I’m glad to have been able to experience it with you and I’m thankful for it!

Be blessed, stay blessed, and be a blessing!

C.j.

you've got a friend in me

Thinking back to earlier this month, when I got the topic memo, my initial thought was, “Oh no.” The second thought was, “What a shame. I don’t know the Holy Spirit.” As I began to devote, I did my small bit of research and everything slowly began to come back to me.

Think back to elementary school for a second. (You’ve had to have made it past that to be reading this far!) Now think about all your little friends, and their little faces. Now I don’t know about you, but I really can’t remember those faces to well. But imagine if someone you knew back then came back into your life, and automatically you remembered! Okay well that’s how the Holy Spirit just came back into my life.

I think back on my Christian walk and remember how tight the Holy Spirit and I use to be, and I can’t remember where we lost one another. I want to illustrate for you how powerful a force and righteous you can be with the Holy Spirit on your side.

Now, I’m not real sure how often you go to church, but for those who do go regularly, you know that every once in a while (sometimes even after every service), there’s this thing that the church folk call an “altar call”. That’s the time near the end of church when the Holy Spirit plays a game called “Guilty Conscience” with you, making you think back over the wrong things you’ve done since the last time you went up for prayer. You know you need to, but you either are too embarrassed to, or you don’t want to look like you just go up there every week. Think about it like this though. Honestly, if it’s so bad that someone sees you going up there every week, they’re in the wrong for not offering you prayer or a helping hand. It’s hard struggling alone.

The point is, you’re not the only one going through it. Aside from all this though, (this is a message for the winners) you know that feeling – that cleanliness – you feel after you’ve gone up and received prayer. I believe that’s what it feels like to be spirit filled!

The mistake I make, time after time, (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) is that I rely on the feeling – not the Spirit. The moment I mess up, I feel the feeling go away, and it’s back to the old me, not caring, and dreading next Sunday when I’ll have to go back up to the altar for more prayer. It doesn’t have to be that way though!

Try this! (Don’t even wait for the next altar call to get this going either! Do it now if you have to.) Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. From there, discipline yourself to do the right thing. (I find it a lot easier to do so, when I know and feel I’ve got a Coach [the Holy Spirit] that’s got my back.) If/When you fall, pray asking the Holy Spirit to lead you and lean on that feeling of cleanliness that’s close to you, and allow that to help you do the right thing.

The other thing I wanted to get in to was how you pray, and I know if you’re like me, you probably need a break. I can completely understand that. That’s why I’ve made a Part Two of this devotional, about being filled with the Spirit. So go on and relax your brain, and come back for more when you’re ready. I highly encourage you to do so. I’d just appreciate it if you did anyway!

we're not alone...

Jesus came to earth for only a short time. He came here to preach about God's kingdom, about how to live on earth and then he died for our sins. He was born and he died. But before he died he told us that he was not going to leave us alone.

John 14:15-18 (Amplified Bible)

15If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.

16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever--
17The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.
18I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you.
He was talking about the Holy Spirit! When Jesus went back to Heaven he told us that he would not leave us alone! The Holy
Spirit is like God's "bodyguard" for us!
The Holy Spirit is intimately involved in our lives. He is here to guide us as we live out our lives for God. Think of a specific time in your life when you've needed one of these things:
A Counselor - someone to help you work out your issues, to give you advice and help you see things you wouldn't see by yourself
Helper - someone to help you!
Intercessor - someone to pray for you or on behalf of you
Advocate -someone to speak up on your behalf, to defend you
Strenghtner - someone to help you be strong!
Standby- someone ready to act, respond, or be used immediately when needed.
We have what we need! If you've ever felt lonley or alone... you're not. The Holy Spirit is in us willing to help us live our lives to the fullest for the Glory of God.

Ask him to help you. Want to be a better Christian? He is here for us and with us!

the wild...

God created everything with purpose. Just like Henry Ford created the car so that we could travel farther and faster God created everything with purpose and for a reason. He is the manufacturer and we are the design. Think about a car for a second. Somebody made that car. So in order to know what the purpose of the car is (if you've never seen a car before) you would have to go to the manufacturer to figure out why that car was built. And if you can't get in touch with the manufacturer, what does a car always have in the glove box? That's right, an owner's manual. This manual has everything you need to figure out the purpose of the car and not only the purpose but how everything in the car functions.

Well, if you were a car then God is your manufacturer and the bible is the owner's manual. If you want to know your purpose you have to develop a relationship with your manufacturer and you also have to read your manual. I hope you get the point.

One more thing before I go on to the next topic. Before you try to figure out your purpose you have to know why you were created. If you try to find your purpose before understanding why you were created you will base your fulfillment in life on what you do. This will lead to frustration and an unhappy life. Do you know why you were created? I'll tell you why, to know God and to have an intimate relationship with Him. He says in the bible if there is anything you should brag about its that you know and understand Him (Jeremiah 9:24). That's that on purpose. Now to our next lesson.

We are past the halfway point of our devotionals for this year and we have covered much ground. I know some of you may be asking how can I take all this in, or who is going to help me remember and apply these lessons in my life. I don't like going to church and if I go I feel like falling asleep. I understand where you are coming from. We have talked about going to church and I strongly believe that you should find a good church that you should attend. But if we were honest with ourselves we would find that we spend most of our time outside of the church.

So if I only spend 2 hours in church on Sunday what about the other 166 hours out of the week. Well a lot of it will be spent sleeping. Lets say you spend 56 hours a week sleeping. Some of us don't even get that much. That would give us 110 waking hours. I don't know how accurate these numbers are but my point is that we spend a lot of time outside of church and so how are we going to get the help to apply these lessons into our life. What if I told you that there was a person who would be with you at all times and His purpose was to help you remember all those lessons and apply them to your life? What if I told you there was someone to lead you in your purpose in all your waking hours if you let Him? Well, I am here to tell you that there is such a person and His name is the Holy Spirit.

I struggled with whether I should talk about Him or not. He is not talked about much but He is the only one from heaven who is here on earth to help you. We talk about God our Father, which we should...we talk about our Lord and Savior, which we should...but we don't here much about the Holy Spirit and I think you should hear about Him. Like I said, He is the only one who is here on earth and He is here to help you. The bible calls Him the Helper and the Comforter. He has a few purposes and I will give them here. (1) To help you remember what Jesus said. If you read the bible or hear a preacher and you ask the Holy Spirit to help you remember the lesson He will do that. (2) He will teach you all things. If you don't have a preacher all the time He will be the one to teach you everything you want to know that pertains to life and Godliness. (3)And He will show you your future.

Now having the Holy Spirit is conditional. What I mean is that it is not guaranteed that you will get His help. Do you know why? Because you have to WANT to be helped by the Holy Spirit. If you don't have a strong desire to be taught by Him and led by Him He won't do it. He is not your servant He is your helper. You have to want Him. He is a gentleman. If you don't want Him He will just stand back waiting. If you put a demand on Him He will come into your heart and help you. I challenge you today. If you have given your life to Jesus Christ ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. It might take a while. It might take some determination on your part. But if you are willing to wait it will be the most powerful experience of your life. The Holy Spirit came on Jesus before He started His work. As soon as the Holy Spirit came on Jesus He started working miracles.

If you are hungry enough to be filled with the Holy Spirit He will lead you on a wild ride. When I say filled, that means He will come to live on the inside of you and lead you and do those things that I mentioned above. He is not boring. He is the coolest leader you will ever have. He is wild. He is so wild that those in the old days who had a good relationship with Him would call Him "the wild goose" because He would just lead them in a fun and adventurous life. Get hungry for God and ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit and your life will never be the same.

Mickey

the secret to life

Purpose is defined as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc. Since everything had to be made and/or created at one point, it’s understood that everything has to have a purpose. So why was I created? Why were you created?

The LORD has made everything for his own purpose…
(Proverbs 16:4; God’s Word translation)

Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot smarter than one thing evolving from another. If evolution did exist, why does purpose exist? That’s a different topic, but it’s something to think about.

Growing up in the church, I have to admit I was blind to “purpose” until maturing and it wasn’t until I began attending youth ministry (teens, yanno.. what comes after children’s church), before it became as serious as it was supposed to be to me.

I remember the exact time it hit me too. It was the first time I realized I didn’t know what my purpose was. I was sitting in the sanctuary (either before or after the service) and my youth leader Deacon Daniel, who was sitting next to me, looked over and asked me, “C.j., do you know what your purpose in life is?” (Well… so maybe I don’t remember every exact detail… but it sounded a lot like that. You get the point!) I really didn’t at the time, and I didn’t want to seem like I was worthless, so I began spilling what I thought and wanted my purpose to be. I easily said I wanted to preach God’s Word through rap – although, I knew in my heart it wasn’t a great talent of mine. I continued to spill what I thought God had planned for me instead of what I should’ve felt in my heart was for me. At the time I didn’t even know what purpose was – let alone my personal purpose. So – if you’re still lost to why you’re here on this earth ( your personal purpose) – lets review why God put us here.

The one who had gone down also went up above all the heavens so that he fills everything. He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. Their purpose is to prepare God's people, to serve, and to build up the body of Christ. This is to continue until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God's Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard.
(Ephesians 4:10-13; God’s Word translation)

So we’re not only here to prepare God’s people… but to serve and build up the body of Christ as well. Imagine this for a moment: “You are the only person on earth.” Scary thought, eh? I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie I Am Legend (starring Will Smith) but long story short, Will’s character was alone in a big city, and to cure his loneliness he placed mannequins (those stiff model things in clothing stores that wear the clothes better than you do..) all around the city, in different places and stores, and talked to them as if they were normal people. Yes people, loneliness can drive you crazy.

This movie is a superb example of the affects of loneliness. But what I’m getting at… is even God gets lonely. He put us here on this earth for the same purpose Will’s character placed the mannequins around the city. God’s purpose however, was more divine - obviously because we can move, talk, and think. But he gave us this free will because it makes him proud when we turn to him. When sin came into the world, we were put to the ultimate test. It’s now a challenge to serve God and live for Him (Thanks a lot Satan!). And it’s so much easier to fail than win. But you’re stronger when you do choose to win and choose not to give up. This makes God a proud creator, and this is pleasing to him. A lot more pleasing than a lifeless mannequin! And because there is so much sin in the world, we as strong Christian’s are responsible for helping our brothers and sisters of this earth stay on the right path, as well as lead them to this path. We do this by becoming ministers, pastors, teachers, and missionaries. And the best part about this is, within this purpose, we all are put here to reach out to different people. Our individual gifts will reach out to different people, because not everyone learns the same way. I assure you, that if you weren’t special my friend… You wouldn’t be alive today. So don’t hesitate think about and find out what your purpose is. Talk to God about it, search deep inside yourself, and stay in the word. God talks to me the most when I’m reading the Bible, or in church. So seek God in these places and he may turn up for you as well.

I’ll tell you, the only thing I fear about death is not fulfilling my purpose before my time on this earth is over. I pray God keep me here long enough for me to fulfill it, but I realize tomorrow is not promised. So do what you can, whenever you can, to work towards your purpose. My ultimate goal in life, is to hear “Well done my good and faithful servant,” after I enter the gates of heaven. Yours should be the same!

Be blessed, be a blessing, and stay blessed!
C.J.

what am I here for?

Why am I here? What is my purpose? It’s one of life’s biggest questions and for years I felt like the answer eluded me. I looked around and saw that it seemed everyone had a talent or some big dream they wanted to accomplish. I looked around at church and it seemed that everyone knew their purpose, what they wanted and why they were here.
I was scared that everyone else had talent, everyone else had a purpose but I was just here slipping through the cracks with time just going by with no real purpose.

Psalm 57:2 says, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.

I began asking God what MY purpose was. It didn’t come overnight but I began understanding how to fulfill my purpose and what it was. I began hearing the Word of God (through preachers and by reading my Bible). God put us here because he wanted to enjoy our company. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. That’s my purpose - to have a relationship with God. God also wants to use me to tell others about Him and that he wants a relationship with him. That’s also my purpose, to help bring others to Him – my testimony, witnessing.
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands. (Psalm 138:8)
God has blessed each of us with gifts and talents. There’s something that you do well that God will use to fulfill your purpose. Whether it’s music, sports or whatever career you choose, whatever talents you have, he will use this! That is good news! You don’t have to turn yourself into anyone else. God has made you unique! He will use your humor, your love, your life, your music, your comedy, your business sense, your sport to help reach out to others! He gave you all these things to help fulfill your purpose and while you’re doing that you can also enjoy your life.
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. (Psalm 20:4)

Be Blessed,
Arlene

Gay Christians?

[below was a 'letter to the editor' I sent for an article about "the Gay Christian debate"]

********************************************************
"Firstly, I wanted to say you did a good job on the article. You presented both sides of the issue clearly.
On the issue, however, I think it's a silly argument.

You HAVE to change things (or add a little imagination) to even begin to take the side of believing God doesn't call homosexuality sin. I mean if we're talking from a Christian mindset and viewing things from a biblical perspective. The bible is clear that God calls the act an abomination. I don't believe God creates people homosexual. There's no biblical point to stand on that said that He does or would.
Is homosexuality the ultimate sin? No way, but what makes this issue so important is this very article. The fact that people justify it and say "God made me gay".

Stealing, murdering, adultery... sins that hurt people, there's no issue there because large groups of people aren't starting churches and debating that God made them that way.
Paul, in writing most of the New Testament, mentioned how some of his writings were to set things straight where others were bringing false teaching into the church.
The Bible does mention that in the last days people will seek after teachers that "itch their ears".
(I'm at work rushing this email, so I don't have the scripture reference with me at the moment)
In these last days people are looking for Pastors who can make them feel like they're okay, just the way they are. This just isn't going to work when they're facing eternity.
God wants us to come to Him just as we are, but He doesn't leave us that way. We become Born Again and our old nature is "buried" (represented when we're baptized), and we're new creatures in Christ Jesus. "Old things passed away, all things created new."

Homosexuality really is a perversion. I know gay people who I love and respect, who are REALLY nice people. I've had loved ones that have stolen cars, do heavy drugs, addicted to pornography, but we're discussing homosexuality.
I've heard the discussion that they're in love and God see's that (why would God want to deny them their happiness???):
It's one thing to truly love someone. You can be loyal, faithful, express appreciation, and share in life's experiences, but what God calls perverse is when that man or woman enters into a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex. He calls it unnatural. Like if a dad entered into a sexual relationship with his daughter (her being consensual); he could argue all day long about how they're in love with each other, but don't try to call yourself a Christian saying God made her for you.

Gay people say He created them that way.... No, the parts of their body they'd been given are literally created to join with someone of the opposite sex, and God ordained that for marriage.

Can a gay person be a Christian???
I don't think so, but I could see their being a Christian who struggles with Homosexual desires.
I'm a Christian, and I still have struggles and weaknesses. Some I'd be to embarrassed to discuss.
But I'm prayerfully trying to live Holy. Not saying "God created me this way, so it's okay."
**************************
If I wanted to try and say God made me to be that way, I'd have to find a different religion to support that because the Bible just doesn't.

I am compassionate to Gay people because I know the confusion and the struggle they must be facing, but just like with anyone else- we have to call sin "sin", and accept God's word as the truth.

Atleast for those of us who call ourselves Christians...

[please don't mistake my words for "Gay bashing" or that I hate Gay people. I certainly do not. I only meant to discuss the issue of what God's Word says about homosexuality]

What am I doing?

There is a question that people have been asking for years. It has been a mystery to some but to others who have answered the question it has made all the difference in their lives. I believe it is a question that we should all be asking if you have not asked it already. Schools try to answer this question as best as they can but are missing a big part of the puzzle. College universities attempt to make a stab at it, but without the main ingredient it doesn't work. What is the question or the questions that people have been asking since the beginning of time? The questions are...
"What am I supposed to do with my life?"
"What am I here for?"
"Do I have a purpose? If so what is it?"
These are all good questions that we should all be asking. These questions sit deep inside of us. They sit deep inside of every man and woman. Some of us have seen the people we have grown up with and those around us as models for our lives who did not seek out their life purpose and it has made us believe that we do not have a great purpose in our lives. I am here to tell you that statement is a lie. You do have a purpose. And you are alive so that you can make sure that you do that purpose. God was talking to a pretty young man one day and He said "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...I have ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations." This means that before that young man was born God already knew him and He had already planned out what he was going to be. Wow!!! Sometimes I really don't understand that statement but for this guy (Jeremiah) God knew who He was and had made a plan for Him before he even came into this world.
You are alive in the greatest times the world has ever seen. You are not here on accident. You were born on purpose. I don't care if your parents did not want you or if they say you were a mistake. THAT IS A LIE. You were born on purpose to do something that would have a great impact on the lives of others. If you are breathing that means that your life has meaning and you better get going with finding the thing you were born to do. God turned to the same man and said "I know the thoughts and PLANS that I have toward you, thoughts of good and not of evil, and thoughts of an expected end." If you want to know those plans for your life, if you want to know your purpose, do not be afraid to be who you are. Stop trying to be like someone else. Do not be afraid to follow your heart. God has wired you to do the very thing you were born to do. You only have one life. Build a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, learn how to hear from Him, and He will take you on the ride of your life. It will be hard at times. It's supposed to be but it is all worth it. It will be an adventure that you will not want to miss. He will direct your wildness and use it. He is not boring. He is wild Himself. You really can't contain Him in the thoughts that you have about Him. He is not what you think or what you have heard about Him. You have to get to know Him so that you can get going with what you are supposed to do.

-Mick
Youth Leader
//Cross Over Y.M.

If I died for you...

You may know me, you may not. But if someone came up to tomorrow and told you for whatever reason, I died so that you could live… What would your first thought be? If you died for me, and I knew you, I’d be able to understand a little bit. But, if I didn’t know who you were, I’d wonder who you were and who I was to you...

It’s not really hard to feel strongly about someone who would do this. Knowing I couldn’t ever thank that person, I’d feel like I owed them something and could never repay them.

Over time, that person easily becomes a part of your life. Anyone you meet becomes a part of your life and has the potential to gain your love, depending on how much their involved. Sure love is a gradual thing... and it can be hard to determine if you actually love someone.

It makes me think then… “How do I know I love someone?” or “What exactly is love?”

With anything I question, I turn to the dictionary first, because it lays out a concept that allows me to at least begin to understand something. So with defining love, the first thing I notice is there are countless definitions and meanings for this one word, many of them either involving “affection” or “sex”. To my surprise – here in this reference that has no view toward any particular faith, belief or theory – I see God’s name among the list of meanings.
It reads:
“the benevolent affection of God for his creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God”

Now wait a minute… How amazing is it that you can’t define love without God, in a world free to believe what they want to believe. Getting back to the definition however, I notice there’s that word “affection” again. So I define that. Along with it being described as “the state of being affected” it is “a fond attachment, devotion, or love.” Hmm… the state of being affected… That sounds a lot like what someone does when they become a part of your life. They make some kind of affect, even so simple as to meet you, or so extreme as to give up their life, so that you can live yours.

Earlier I mentioned the feeling of owing someone who would die for you. When someone dies for you, you can easily say “You owe them your life.” This is what giving your life to Christ is. He’s died for you, and in turn, you owe it to him to live “your life” for “Him” (because He gave up His for yours.)

Now you may ask… "What’s love got to do with it? What's love, but a second hand in motion?"

Let’s look at it like this:
A well know scripture is John 3:16. The first part of this scripture reads:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son…”
Before I get deeper into this, let’s just go back to the family of the sacrificed, which I mentioned earlier. When anyone dies, they leave someone behind, be it a mother, brother, father, or sister. If I were to die for you, and you attended my funeral, it’s not hard to believe your relationship with my family would be affected. The message I want to relay with this is that the relationship between you and God strengthened – as it would with any deceased member’s family. But He gave His ‘only Son’ as a sacrifice. Now this changes a lot. Not only did Jesus die for you, but under His father’s will, he agreed to sacrifice Himself for you.

Now picture my dad, being the reason behind me giving my life for you. He’d have to feel strongly towards you to be able to be willing to sacrifice his son, let alone his child.

I don’t know if anything I’ve said thus far makes any sense at all to you, but basically I’ve been trying to illustrate the greatest example of love to help you understand this phenomenon called Love.
The bible says, “We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave His life for us. (1John 3:16)” It also says “We must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words. (1John 3:18)” There’s a difference between telling someone you love them and then actually living like you love them.
Live to love.... God and His people.

Be blessed,
C.j.

insights of love

This month's topic shares insight about love. Love is a special topic in the hearts of everyone because our world is engulfed in the spiritual power of love. Everyone talks about it. Friends ask each other if they love each other. Parents say "I love you" to their children. At wedding young couples whisper "I love you" in their precious vows. Many song lyrics boost the feelings of love. It is easy to love your friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend and others. However "to love your enemies" takes true discipline of your will. I would like to share why we should love those who persecute you even if you "feel" like you want to punch them literally.
Loving your enemies is a contradictory according to the world's standards. We have seen many examples on hating your enemies and trashing their reputations. Movies such as Mean Girls and Superman show how we have archrivals and our missions in life are to destroy them. God says the total opposite of the world. In Matt 5:43-45 Jesus says " You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy, But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." You might be wondering why should I love and even pray for enemies but God gives a clear answer "that you may be children of your Father in Heaven." (Matt 5: 46). In case we don't remember, when we accepted God in our lives, we become His Children. We desire to be like Him. It is the same concept when I was little and I wanted to be like my dad. I would wear his shoes and walk around the house mimicing his every move. Just like I wanted to be like my Biological Father, I want to be like my Heavenly Father. God loves everyone including those who spat on His Son. We should do the same and love people who have hurt us.
Loving your enemies will humble you and get rid of your pride. When you first show God's love to those who persecute you; it will feel awkward for your flesh because your flesh wants to hate enemies but God inside you loves them. The more you show love and kindness to your enemie, the more comfortable you will get interacting with the person. With my first encounter of my "proposed" enemy, she gave me a look that could kill. At first I wanted to send curses to her and let her suffer much more than she made me suffer. But God reminded me of what His word says about loving your enemies. Luke 6:28 gives excellent wisdom and I highly recommend you read this powerful scripture. God wanted me to pray and bless her. At first, my flesh did not want to but we should not comply with our feelings but comply with what God says. I started to think positive about her and pray for her. Soon I began show love and kindness to her without hesitation. The more I show her God's love the more I show compassion toward her. Now I have no grudges toward her. There no hardness in my heart toward her. Show love as we have been shown love from God.
Even our enemies are loved by God so we ought to love them. God loves so there is no rational reason why we can't love that person or people. Our problem is that we see them in carnal eyes. When we continue to renew our mind and see them with spiritual eyes then we will see them as God does...one of his beloved creations. When we see them as God sees them then we will see them as Kings and Queens in God's Kingdom. Even if they are not saved now, they will be future royalties when they accept God into their lives. The more we love them then they will see Jesus. The more Jesus they see in us then the more we become more like our Heavenly dad.

-Brittany (FSU)

Do you love me?

There is one truth I have learned that has always stayed with me; I don’t know where I heard it but it has resounded in my heart and mind for years and I know it’s true: Love is not a feeling, love is a commitment.

My dad said he loved us, but he left us. He said he loved my mom but he left her. I saw my friend talk about her new boyfriend; she said she was in love….a month later they had broken up. Friends say they love each other, and then stab each other in the back. Parents say they love their kids yet bring harm and abuse to them. Everyday thousands of people get married. They vow that for better and for worse, through richer and poorer, through any and every obstacle that comes their way that they will love each other forever. At least half of them are divorced within a few years.

What is this thing we call “love” that seems so hard to come by?

The Bible says that: God is Love.

The Bible says:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always 'me first,'
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.

What does this mean? It means that Love is not about a feeling! Love is about giving! It is a commitment. As humans we tend to walk around looking for what people can give to us, what we can get out of something. But that is not how God intended. God sent Jesus to the cross to die for us when there was nothing in it for him except to be able to have a relationship with us. God is Love; he is the ultimate example of how we should be! There’s nothing we can ever do for him to repay what He did. Love gives, love cares.

This is the foundation. Study and learn and let God teach you what it means, what it specifically looks like in your life.

-Arlene
crossoverncm@hotmail.com

find a good church

Its good to find a good church who loves you for who you are and will help you get close to the One who has all the answers you ever needed. Like I always do I just want to add one more thought. I know some people are thinking that church is boring, or I've been hurt in church, there are a bunch of hypocrites in church and so on and so forth. Some of you are thinking that, lets be real. Think about this for a minute. Do you remember the story of Noah and the ark? If you've never heard of it they have a movie called "Evan Almighty" that kind of talks about it. Anyway I will give you a quick history. God was tired of how violent man was being on earth. So He made a decision to wipe out all of mankind except for a man named Noah and his family. The bible says that Noah was someone who respected God a lot. Anyway, God told Noah to build an ark. He wanted to save Noah and his family from the flood He was going to bring to wipe out mankind. Along with Noah and his family God saved two of every kind of animal as well. So on the ark it was Noah, his family, and a whole bunch of animals. Do you think there was any plumbing on that big boat? Don't you think that it smelled pretty bad after a while and it was just nasty to be inside that big ark? But even thought it was nasty inside the ark, who do you think was safe: the ones in the ark with all the bad smells or those outside of the ark drinking and partying and having a good time? I don't think I have to answer that for you. Even though it was a mess inside the ark everyone in it was safe from the coming destruction. I know that the church might be a mess at times, but those who are in the church are safer than those who are outside of it drinking and partying and having a good time. Think about that next time you don't want to go to church. Yeah, there are some hypocrites, and it can be boring at times, and church people can hurt you, but if you can forget about what others are doing and make sure that your heart is right toward God you can receive the protection that the church has to offer. Anyway, on to the next topic of discussion. Have you ever felt like there was something missing in your life? That you are searching for something but you just don't know where to find it? Girls you look for it in a boy only to realize that he doesn't have it to offer to you because he never received it himself. Men, you look for approval in your boys only to find out that they will turn on you on a drop of a dime. You look for it in girls but it doesn't quite satisfy you so you go to the next and then the next to find out that its not there. What is this thing that we look for but just can't get a handle on it? Why am I searching but just can't find it? You want me to tell you why you can't find it. Because you are looking in the wrong place and you have no one to guide you in the right direction because they don't know where to find it. They can only tell you where they think it is so we are all missing it. What is this slippery thing that we can't catch? LOVE!!! Thats right, you got it. LOVE. I know you are probably thinking, "I am not looking for love, what is he talking about". We all are looking for it. Some of us get into gangs to get love, some of us hook up with other boys and girls to get love, most of us become someone we are not just so that we can have some love. It is the very thing that we all want. You know why we don't have it? Because we are being steered away from the very thing that is love. The bible says "God is love". Society pushes you away from God so the very thing that is love is the very thing that we are walking away from. Let me guide you in the right direction. Run to God. He loves you. He delights in you. He wants a close relationship with you. He doesn't have love, He is love. Those of you who have been searching, you search is over. Once you realize that He loves you and wants to be your Father, to those who don't have fathers, you will begin to get the love He has to offer and you won't have to run to anyone else to find it. It is then that you can be filled and you will have plenty to offer to others. Fall in love with God and you will see your tank being filled like never before. Mick

Got Church?

[if not, here's what you're missing]
One of the most impacting things I’ve heard within the last few years was that, “The people you associate with, and the books you read, determine where you will go in life.” I’m a firm believer in this, and even though when I was told this, it had nothing to do with Christianity, it seems as if this theory were meant for such a religion. The most impacting part about this is, it determines where you will go in the next life as well.



I’ve spoke on the Bible a whole lot in the past couple months, but there’s no end to the impact it can have on someone’s life, so I’ll briefly relate a bit of the impact to support this theory. Since the books you read determine where you will go in this life as well as the next, it’s obvious the Bible should definitely be one of those books.



One of the biggest things I get out of church is translation. The testimony I’m about to tell you isn’t coincidence either… it’s God! Whenever I see the topic I am to discuss, such as this one, I initially have no idea what I’ll write about. I turn to God through prayer and pray he help me be able to relate and he’s pulled through every time. After my prayer, I went to my Tuesday night service and God revealed to me a translation from the book of Numbers. It was one of those stories I have a hard time relating to, let alone translating. The preacher broke down the 22nd chapter in a way that stung, and that feeling can’t be gained any where else but in Church. So when you pass up church, you miss out on things like this, and you never know when the word will touch you. Your best chance is to make a habit of attending.



Hmm, attending… Did that word strike a nerve? Hope so because I really wasn’t sure how else I would lead into this discussion about schooling. Growing up in the church - “back in my day” - children’s church was called Sunday school. I never really took it literally, but looking back on it, it makes sense. Monday through Friday, many people, especially teens and younger attend school regularly. Saturday of course is that “day off”. Then for Christians, there’s church on Sunday, or – Sunday school. Is that not the same thing? You go to church to learn, much like with school. You’ve got your textbook (the bible) your teacher (the pastor/preacher) and your classmates (the congregation).



In this sense, your homework is to study the bible on your own, meaning you read on your own time. That way, when you are unsure about something, or need guidance on the tougher topics, you have a place where you can compare and contrast thoughts, or just simply pick up on something you might not have caught on your own.



In the interest of keeping this short, I’ll move on from there. It is a common belief that a church is made up of 4+ walls, chairs, and an altar/stage. If that’s all you have, then there’s nothing but a building and furniture there. A church is nothing without the congregation! The God-fearing individuals who come together in organized meetings throughout the week. These are those people you associate with from the theory we discussed earlier. Fellowship among your brothers and sisters in Christ is what makes you a stronger Christian. Of course you don’t necessarily have to attend church to be a Christian. But where’s the fun in living alone? The moral support of those who you can turn to, to know that you’re not in the fight alone should definitely be enough to keep you going strong. And where else can would you be encouraged and influenced into ministry? Being involved is a sure way to help you grow into stronger Christians. I speak from experience. I’m glad to be able to share my experiences and thoughts with you. I helps me gain the self-control I need to become a stronger Christian, and I appreciate the opportunity! Be blessed and stay bless guys!

-C J

let's have some church

In order to begin to understand this we must first know and understand that “church” is the not the building, it’s not the service, it’s not anything physical. The “church” is the people, the group of believers that come together to worship together, to encourage each other in the things of God.

As people we need friends, we need leaders and pastors to encourage us to keep our faith. Have you ever been down or not feeling like doing the “God” thing anymore, then you got around someone who got you all pumped up and you were excited again?

There are many benefits to being part of a church. From each other and through our testimonies we can get encouragement, inspiration, strength. Have you found it hard at times and felt like you were the only one at school or in your group of friends that is trying to do the right thing? It’s hard to be the only Christian in a group of people just living for themselves. You will receive peer pressure to be like those around you. Whatever it is that they are doing they will try to get you to do, it could be drinking, smoking, having sex, stealing, etc. The more you’re around them the more you’ll be like them.

Here’s another saying: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”.

There’s a truth that has been proven over and over. Who we hang around will ultimately influence or determine who we are. The people that make up a particular church are there to influence you towards God. Next time you go to church take a good look around. Those people loving God and seeking Him with all their heart, they are the church. They are there to influence you in some fashion or form. I leave you with these words:

Hebrews 10:25 (The Message)
22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

we are the body of Christ

Hello everyone,

This month's topic is all about the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ. We are the church because we make up the Body of Christ. Most believe that the church is only the four walls of the building that we go to Sunday and Wednesday services. The church is the gathering of God's Children. Some gatherings are small like my Tallahassee Church. The Body of believers that I attend here in Tallahassee is called Mosaic Church. The Body is small but powerful in God because we are all on-fire for God. New Covenant Ministries is a large Body of believers who are hungry for the Word of God. It is important to be committed to a church because of the connections and relationships that you make. With these relationships, you are accountable to others. For example, I attend a small group which is like a care group. The small group consists of college girls mainly juniors and seniors who are committed to Christ. In this small group, we discussed John Bevere's Book called A Heart Ablaze: Igniting a Passion for God. Also we are accountable to each other about our walk with God. We share advice and pray for each other. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 God says, " Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If they fall down, they can help each other up. But pity these who fall and have no one to help them." Do you want to be a Christian without another Christian friend?

Being apart of the church is essential for on-fire believers. We live in a secular world that does not enhance our walk with God because most of the time the worldly influences try to create hurddles in our walk with God. The church provides an excellent support system for believers. I am thankful that I have a great support system of Christians who help me grow in God through their divine guidance. Many times I have asked my fellow Christian friends about being a light in a dark world especially on-campus. Their advice helped me because I learned how to show my light better to the other students without comprising myself or beliefs. Also I learn about being a light when I attend the church services in order to hear God-directed messages. These messages can stir up your faith in God, give you peace in the midst of a storm or restore hope back into the hearts of hurting people. I am truly honored to a be apart of a dynamic Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is alive and well and ever growing with new members daily. My dad told me how many people were saved on his medical mission trip to Ethiopia. Praise God for the new believers in Christ!!!!
You should be apart of this fellowship of believers because we are like one big family helping each other on our daily walks with God.

guilty by association

Today I want to talk to you about something very important. I want to start by asking you a question.
Have you ever gotten in trouble or arrested over something someone else did? You did not even do anything but just because you were around that other person you got in trouble too. Maybe you were in a store with a friend and he or she stole something and you didn't steal anything but you both got arrested. Or you were in class and your friend is talking to you and you are not saying a word but the teacher catches your friend and you both get written up. This is called guilty by association. You do not have to commit the crime all you have to do is just be there. Well, that is life. Who you hang around will determine your lifestyle and consequences. The bible says "evil companion corrupts good habits". In order for you to live the life you were meant to live you have to surround yourself with the right people. God wants you to give your life to Jesus, build a relationship with Him, and read His word (the three things we have talked about so far this year) but you are going to need help doing it. You can't do it on your own and you surely can't do it with people who are not going to help you to get God's best for you. So what I suggest is that you find a group of people who will help you accomplish these things. And you will find them in a church or youth group. Out of all the organizations in the world this is one that God began. God wanted the church so that His people could have a place to come together. Without the church it is nearly impossible for you to live the life you were meant to live. Sure the church has its faults. And I am sure some of you have experienced them. But the church is God's design and He wants you to be a part of it. Have you ever been to a pep rally at your school or anywhere else? That is what church is like in some ways. It should be a place that we get together to get excited about life. And not only is it a pep rally but it is also a place where we learn how to live our lives to the fullest, the way God intended for us. Will you get everything you need in the church? I am here to say that you will not. It's not all about church because you spend most of your time outside of it but you get a foundation for your life that you can jump off of. A real church will teach you how to get close to God and in turn He will provide you with a relationship and the training that you need in this stage of your life. Some of you are searching for something and you are looking in the wrong places. You are looking for it in your friends, through music, drugs, sex, and alcohol. But I am here to tell you that the very thing you are looking for is God. You were meant to look for Him but we have been taught wrong. We have been taught to look in other places. You will find God in a good church and youth group. Like I said before, it wasn't designed to give you everything, only God can do that. The church can't even fully communicate to you what you need right now in your life but God can. And in a good church or youth group they will teach you how to find God. You need to get connected to a good youth group who loves you and encourages you to find God who will in turn give you the life you have been missing out on.

Mick