SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS? ...REALLY? 3

GodThoughtsWired!                  Friday, January 7, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS? ...REALLY? 3 "Do nothing from selfishness... but with humility of mind regard one another as more important  than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:3-5, bold mine Do NOTHING! from selfishness?  Are you kidding me?  I thought the "golden rule" was good enough.  You know, "Do unto others as..." (see Matthew 7:12). "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." -Luke 6:28, bold mine see Romans 12:13-21 Again...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  About 25 years ago I adopted as my own personal life mission statement: To get to know Jesus Christ and Represent Him in Everything I do. You know what?  I gotta be honest with you... I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GETTING MYSELF INTO!!! For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS? ...REALLY? 2

GodThoughtsWired!               Thursday, January 6, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS? ...REALLY? 2 "For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.  For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."1 Peter 2:19-20, bold mine Suffering is a part of God's plan for all followers of Christ.  Did you know this?  Do you know the Bible well enough to believe it?  And I can hear someone sincerely ask..."Where?"  Thanks for asking!  Actually...the very next verse! "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21, bold mine Indeed, all followers of Christ are "called for the purpose of suffering."  However, here's the key!  Not just suffering for the sake of suffering, but suffering for the sake of righteousness (see above, verse 20).  Suffering for the kingdom and glory of God. AND IT GETS WORSE! (or better, depending on your perspective).  Not just "suffering for the sake of righteousness," but patiently enduring the suffering that you are unjustly enduring! see above, verse 20). AND EVEN WORSE! (or better, depending on how you look at it), "While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously."1 Peter 2:23, bold mine Every follower of Jesus is "called" to: Patiently endure unjust suffering while leaving their reputation in God's hands... for this finds favor with God. -pastor Brad's paraphrase, 1 Peter 2:19-23 Sooo...you still wanna be like Jesus? REALLY? For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, clickhere. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, clickhere. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS?...REALLY?

GodThoughtsWired!                   Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% SO YOU WANNA BE LIKE JESUS?...REALLY? "And He (Jesus) summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me...'"Mark 8:34, bold mine Self-denial isn't exactly on my top-ten list of things that I naturally desire to do.  In fact, it's the EXACT OPPOSITE of my natural tendency toward self-gratification and self-justification and self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency and...you get the point. And in truth, the quest to be like Jesus is more than mere "self-denial."  To be like Jesus is to utterly reject personal preference and self-will in favor of "the will of God." "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."Luke 22:42, bold mine "Not my will, but Yours," is the Jesus lifestyle.  To be like Jesus is to desire God's will over your own.   Still wanna be like Jesus?  Really? For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, click here. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, click here. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREEMinistry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

THE LORDSHIP & THE LIFESTYLE

GodThoughtsWired!              Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% THE LORDSHIP & THE LIFESTYLE "Seek first his kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you."-Matthew 6:33 I just had some of the most practical insights that I've ever had in regard to this verse.  I've had it memorized for more than two decades, but just recently in ocurred to me..."His kingdom" is where He is King.  In a kingdom there can only be one king. This world is full of "kings."  That is to say that the vast majority of people on the planet wield their own authority.  But, The only place on earth where, "all these things are added to you" is the place where Jesus is King. -pastor Brad To "seek first His kingdom" is to daily live in voluntary submission to His will, His way, and His word. To "seek His righteousness" is to live His lifestyle.  Only those who do so receive the promise.  Righteousness as opposed to worldliness.  His will as opposed to mine.  To "seek His righteousness" is to live according to the word of God; to do what God says to do; and to not do what God says not to do. Then, "all these things shall be added to you."  What things?  Well, all the things that the majority spend a lifetime striving after (see Matthew 6:19-32).  It says they will be "added" to you.  Wow!  The word"added" comes from the Greek word, "prostithemi"which literally means, "give, grant, place near."  God will GIVE them to you. Amazing! For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, click here. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, click here. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

WHAT POTENTIAL!

GodThoughtsWired!                    Monday, January 3, 2011 An Inspiration for Today...A Resource for a Lifetime!

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% WHAT POTENTIAL! "Before I formed you in the womb... and before you were born... I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." -Jeremiah 1:5 What potential!  God had a marvelous plan for Jeremiah's life...BEFORE HE WAS BORN!  It was asJob 14:16 and 31:4 describe, "Thou didst number my steps...Does He not see my ways and number all my steps?"  How remarkable!  Yet, this is not an isolated occurrence: "He who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb." -Galatians 1:15 Yes, the same was true for Paul.  God had prepared good works for Paul to walk in ..BEFORE HE WAS BORN!  It was for Paul as he describes in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."-Ephesians 2:10 Wow!  What lives they must have lived, Paul and Jeremiah.  Walking in the "good works" that God had prepared for them, before they were ever born!  That must have been amazing!  They were living testimonies of God's promise, "The steps of a man are established by the Lord; and He delights in his way" (Psalm 37:23). Hmmm...I wonder if God has ever done that for anyone else? For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, click here. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, click here. PLEASE prayerfully consider supporting the GodThoughts Ministry (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

CAN MERCY AND JUDGMENT COEXIST? 2

GodThoughtsWired!            Thursday, December 30, 2010 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% CAN MERCY AND JUDGMENT COEXIST? 2 "LIFE IS NOT FAIR, BUT GOD IS JUST... AND HE HAS AN ETERNITY TO PROVE IT!" -Pastor Brad Illustration:  A child is brutally raped, beaten, tortured and murdered.  The guilty man is caught and brought before a judge with whom the child's grieving mother and father await the verdict.  The judge says, "Because I am a loving and forgiving judge, I am letting the offender go free without any punishment." Now let's say you are the mother or father in this illustration.  How do you feel about the judge's verdict? Mercy has been extended but justice has not been served! May I suggest to you that judgment is an extension of God's love! (see Hebrews 12:5-11).  And may I also suggest to you that, in this illustration, righteously judging the criminal would have extended mercy to both the victims parents...AND the criminal.* "WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE LOVE OF GOD UNTIL WE GRASP THE HORROR OF OUR SIN AND THE SACRIFICIAL TORMENT THAT JESUS CHOSE TO PAY ON OUR BEHALF." -Pastor Brad In God's kingdom, mercy and justice coexist. *I'm interested to hear from you - How could it be possible that  judging the criminal righteously would be "merciful?" For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, click here. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, click here. PLEASE prayerfully remember GodThoughts with your year-end giving (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).

CAN MERCY AND JUDGMENT COEXIST? 1

GodThoughtsWired!         Wednesday, December 29, 2010 Evangelizing the Church in the Age of Delusion

You are subscribed as %%emailaddress%% CAN MERCY AND JUDGMENT COEXIST? 1 "The Lord loves justice... It is I (God) who judges with equity... For the Lord is a God of justice."Psalm 37:28; 75:2; Isaiah 30:18 When I first came into my current pastorate roughly seven years ago, an otherwise kind and loving family left the church because of my unwavering commitment to the Bible as "inspired by God, inerrant and infallible as originally given" (see Psalm 19:7; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).  They readily accepted the "love and forgiveness" part of God's character, but they did not believe in His "justice." "Our God is NOT PUNITIVE!," the woman assured me, as she left the church parking lot for the final time. To the contrary Oswald Chambers declares, "In the teachings of Jesus Christ the element of judgment is always brought out - it is the sign of the loving God.-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, May 5 So, what do you think?  Can mercy and judgment coexist? More tomorrow. For more information about the GodThoughts Ministry, click here. For more information about the author of GodThoughts, click here. PLEASE prayerfully remember GodThoughts with your year-end giving (click on "donate" button below). The cost to provide this FREE Ministry world-wide in 2010 was $40,700.00 (see Annual Report for full details).