Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-03-13) from his book, What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person (Kindle Locations 2977-2978). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition . The direction we are headed seems to me to be the key.   One of the attributes of God is that He is everywhere so our focus seems to be the important key here.   He is always near us. I love my reading through the four Gospels in the New Testament and I read an interesting response of Jesus to His disciples.   In the New International Version He says, “Are you so dull?” and He says to them in another place, “Do you still not understand?”   And I thought I wonder how they felt and it came to me, He probably could say the same thing to me.   But He also could say it to the smartest person on the earth and all the angels in heaven.   Compared to Him we are all dull, we have so much to learn and so much to experience with Him. But I’m sure there are some who would really be upset if He said th

A thought Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Momen t (Kindle Locations 1760-1761). Kindle Edition. There is a person who is one of my heroes.   After she had gone to college, she decided to leave her home town of Denver, Colorado and to move to Los Angeles to live her dream to be an actress.   Her parents went with her as far as Phoenix and then she went the rest of the way by herself.   She lived with a friend in one of the toughest parts of LA and each day she would head out into the city to a movie or TV studio to work.   She also found a very good church that met on Sunday night in a night club in downtown LA.   She would drive there by herself at night.   That is also where she met a young guy from Las Vegas who was in seminary.   By the way she married that guy who happens to be my son. Now that is a story of someone who had people who encouraged her, who didn’t hold her back but that is not true of so many people.   If

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 116). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition . We many times are confused over the fact that confession of an action doesn’t always end with our confession to God.   That is a part of confession but there is also the part of confessing to the people that you’ve sinned against.   You see, our desire needs to also be to not commit the same sin again. Let’s say, you cheat on a test and you confess to God but if you then confess to your teacher that you cheated, there is a great chance that you won’t cheat again.   Let’s say it another way, the thought of you facing your spouse, or facing your kids and confessing to them that you cheated sexually with someone else may be a way of keeping you from giving in to the temptation to cheat sexually.   Anything to keep us from giving in to the temptation will be a good thing. Another thing to see is that some p

A thought by Brandon Hatmaker, (2011-10-18) from his book, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture (p. 34). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. The truth is He has.   Take food for example.   There is enough food in the world to feed everybody in the world.    The problem with most all the problems of the world is that when God created us He gave us a free will and He is not going to go back on that.   Some people are so afraid to not have enough food that they choose to hoard it and so others are deprived because of it.     I like an illustration that Pastor Scott Daniels at Pasadena First Nazarene Church gave yesterday.   He bought out one roll of toilet paper and also a package of 30 rolls of toilet paper.   He said that so many people have a one toilet paper view of life and they are so afraid that they will run out so they do all they can to make sure they don’t run out. Back when Johnny Carson was on the Tonight Show he made a joke in his opening monologue

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-03-13).from his book, What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person (Kindle Location 773). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. I am in the process of reading the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the first four books of the New Testament.   I am reading them 13 times in 2013.   I do not want to get to know Jesus better but to experience Him more.   I want a deeper relationship with Him.   That’s why I am spending this year in reading and picturing His story through the eyes of these four writers and the nudging of the Holy Spirit.   I just finished reading of His birth for the sixth time and it finally got through to me how much God really loves me.   He wanted me to really know how much He loved me and He showed that by living as I live and it starts by His being a baby. We as a family are experiencing three gifts of love.   Harper is three month’s old, Addison is three years old and Ashlyn is six years old.   The

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 115). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. This whole matter of relationships with others is so important because it affects our relationship with God.   Andy also says, “The truth is, you cannot resolve your differences with God if you are unwilling to resolve your differences with the people around you.”   Jesus made this clear when He said in Matthew 6:15 (NIV), “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Relationships are so very important.   In some situations you may need some outside help.   There are people who have the ability to deal with conflict.   For men this many times is a problem.   They aren’t even honest with themselves that there is a problem so how in the world could they be honest with someone else.   They aren’t even honest with their wives or or their parents or their kids or that person

A thought by Andy Stanley (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 145). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition . That is so true.   I had a situation that happened in my life that in no way did I want to forgive. I wanted to play the martyr and get all I could out of it.   I mean they stabbed me in the back and then there were others who followed them closely behind and again that really hurt. But today I am at peace.   There is no pain at all when I think of that situation.   I am free because of forgiveness.    Now I have no relationship with this person today because of some evil that they did to someone close to me but I am free.   Have I forgiven them for what they did to the other person?   No, I haven’t.   The evil that they did was not toward me so what they did was not up to me to forgive them.   I am not the one to forgive them.   There are some acts that the justice of God takes over. But I am free fro