All posts filed under: Christian Life

Forget What Your Mom or Teacher Say – You Aren’t So Special All

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We are tempted to view the routines and ruts of everyday life with derision. Courtney Reissig In a recent article in The New York Times, Alina Tugend asks the same question. Contemplating the accolades of her own children, the NYT columnist writes, “I wonder if there is any room for the ordinary any more, for the child or teenager—or adult—who enjoys a pickup basketball game but is far from Olympic material, who will be a good citizen but won’t set the world on fire.” She notes that for some “in this world, an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life.” These days, success is measured by the extraordinary rather than the mere faithful or honest. As Tugend says, “we have a need to be exceptional.” And she wonders if this is all a good thing. We can’t all be the next innovative inventor, best-selling author, or Olympic medalist. The reality is that most of us will live our lives in the routine and mundane. This is true as much for Christians as it …

WORRY

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:25-34 If God covers with so much glory things of no farther value than to serve the meanest uses, will he not take care of his servants, who are so precious in his sight, and designed for such important services in the world? The question at the heart of these few verses could not be posed any better than the way it is above. The answer to that question is, of course, God cares so much more about his servants than anything else in creation. He has set his affection on us and will crown us with his grace and provision. Unfortunately, a lot of us struggle with believing and trusting God to provide for us and take care of our tomorrow. We are some times too anxious about our future, that we …

Raping the Innocence of Generation Z (revisited)

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Raping the Innocence of Generation Z (revisited). Vai – ChurchRelevance Generation Z is still undefined but could loosely be labeled those born from 1996 to today. In 2009, we highlighted University of Pittsburgh’s research discovering the connection between musical lyrics and sexual activity. Lyrics Influence Teens Exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was one of the strongest associations with sexual activity. Compared to those with the least exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex, those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse. Similarly, among those who had not had sexual intercourse, those in the highest third of exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex were nearly twice as likely to have progressed along a noncoital sexual continuum compared to those in the lowest third. Movies Influence Teens Now 3 years later, there is new research linking movie consumption to sexual behavior. Psychological Science will soon be publishing a 6-year study by Ross O’Hara while at Dartmouth College that states: Much research has shown that adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviors are influenced by media, but the role …

Let the Bishop Speak: Longevity as a Christian and a minister

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My 12 year old daughter has been at youth camp for the past five (5) day at my spiritual Father’s church. Well, yesterday was the last day so I went to the church to pick her up. Before I did, I spend a few minutes with my spiritual father. I call him bishop, but his real name is Forrest. He told me a few awesome things that happened in my daughter’s life during the five days she spent there. How the Lord touched her the night before and watched streams of tears flow down her cheeks. He reminded me of the very same picture of me in 1992, a picture he kept in his mind and will never forget. A picture of me at an all night prayer meeting, just like my little girl, with streams of tears flowing down my cheeks. I thought about for a while and have not been able to shake the thought of the impact he has had on my life and now my daughter’s. Talk about affecting generations! What if …

Entitlement Issues

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Limited in mind, limited in body, ruler of our own domain.Claim false authority, like we’re the ones who rule and reign. The mentality of the majority is more than metaphorically morphing into a misinformed form of who we were born to be. Torn between, blind perception and divine reality. Torn at the seems, our dreams are built on a faulty foundation of fallacy. This will be our fatality, it’s simply a formality. See the casualties of war laid on the floor of the battle scene. We worship how we feel, we don’t worship who we should. Yeah we got it bad, and if God calls it bad we call it good. We covet what others have, grab whatever we can, whatever we want, we think it belongs in the palm of our hands, going along with a song and a dance. Worshipping idols to fulfill our entitlement issues. Addicted to the feeling we get when we get what we want so we pick and we choose. Even the air we breath is a gift we …

Anger does not produce the righteousness that God Requires

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What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. James 4:1-2 What causes us to get angry? I believe we get angry because our desires are not fulfilled; our rights violated, our expectations are not met and because we have been hurt by someone. In any case, our unfulfilled desires result into anger. Everyone of us have areas in our lives where we are most susceptible to anger. I can almost hear my wife’s voice in the back of my mind – “stop pushing my button.” Let name a few I struggle with – I will surprised if you don’t: disobedient children a stubborn person yelling stress at work last-minute changes feeling neglected hurtful words unrealistic expectations disrespect unmet desires The list goes on! Our unfulfilled desires lead to fighting and quarreling. When any one of these occur in our lives, it causes us to react in anger. Anger in and of itself is …

Flibbertigibbet

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Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it. Part 2 It is often said that rich people’s children are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. But it also seems to me that people with too many words are born with a silver foot in their mouths. They always seem to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And their chatter goes on and on and on. Flibbertigibbet: a silly flighty person Flibbertigibbet may have been coined to imitate the sound of idle chatter. The word first appeared in Middle English as flepergebet, and it has enjoyed a number of senses: gossip; chatterer;demon; imp. Shakespeare gave flibbertigibbet its current spelling, but the modern meaning only dates to the end of the 19th century. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.? Proverbs 10:19 Researchers have found that women speak about 16,000 words a day and men fall shy of that number just by a very narrow margin. On the other hand we have some with the ability to …

Defenestration

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Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it. Part 1 Defenestration:  a throwing of a person or a thing out of a window; or a usually swift expulsion or dismissal. Defenestration comes from Latin (de- means “from; down, away;” and fenestra means “window”). The word first appeared in English in 1620. Have you ever been kicked out of a church? Have you ever been kicked out of your job? Maybe you know how it feels  to be kicked out of school or dumped by a girlfriend or a boyfriend. How do you model genuine faith in those times. There is a young woman in my church going through the feeling of being dumped. She now sits on the other side from where she used to in church and the guy is claiming that she should not come to church because this is his home church. But she says he is the one who needs  to find another church because this is her home church as well. They are mean and …

Let God be your Avenger!

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Romans 12 for people like Dr. Bruce Banner The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets!” Strong emotions such as anger, terror and grief are also triggers for forcing Banner’s transformation into the Hulk.           Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with …