All posts tagged: attitude

7 Questions for those who do not like their leaders

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And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord… Nehemiah 3:5 During the time of Nehemiah, the Persian Empire had reached its greatest extent, engulfing nearly the entire Near East. In 539 b.c. the Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and absorbed the lands of Israel and Judah (known as Beyond the River) into his empire. The next year he allowed the people of Judah (now called Jews) to return home and rebuild the temple of the Lord. Several waves of returning Jews continued to resettle in Judea, and Nehemiah was granted permission to rebuild Jerusalem’s ruined walls around 445 b.c. Little by little, God began renewing his people in the land, to carry out what he promised to Abraham. God in his mercy raised up Ezra the priest and teacher, and Nehemiah the governor, to lead his people in the hard work that this renewal requires.  Nehemiah will encounter some serious opposition to the work, but before the rebuilding of the city wall became a full-fledged conflict …

Keep your Vows even when it Hurts

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A few weeks ago, I felt compelled to meet with a brother from our congregation. I didn’t want to scold him, nor rebuke him, I simply wanted to talk to him about standing me up several times. He is one of those guys who’s very quick to volunteer for a project. You know, guys with very good intentions, willing to help, but really do not realize that they are over committing. I didn’t want to break out in a brand new teaching series on how to make and keep your vows; neither did I want to discourage his enthusiasm. But I had to tell him that he didn’t have to approach me every week to commit to something and not actually do the thing. I wanted him to actually think and plan about how he wanted to serve, than pursue it passionately. However, I did share the following scripture and thought with him: the faithful followers of the Lord, keep their promises even when it hurts. Psalm 154 NLT What I do not mean by keeping …

Detours

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Life is sometimes full of twists and turns: You are up – than you are down. You are in love – you are out of love. You are Healthy – than you are ill. You are Employed – than, unemployed Other times, life is great, you are moving toward your dreams, goals and your destination is just around the corner and boom – roadblock. All of a sudden, you hit a brick wall. What do you do when you find yourself on this roller coaster ride of ups and downs? What do you do when disappointment hits? How do you handle detours, opposition and roadblocks? Quite often, when life serves us an unexpected blow or a pill too hard to swallow, we quickly get discouraged and think it’s the end of the road. Sometimes we blame others or simply just give up. A few years ago a young violinist by the name of Lukas Kmit was playing at a Jewish Orthodox synagogue in Prseov, Slovakia. While he was performing, the cell phone of one of …

Taming the Tongue

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The case for Taming the Tongue A man working in the produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, “Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads and that’s how we sell them!” “You mean,” she persisted, “that after all the years I’ve shopped here, you won’t sell me half-a-head of lettuce?” “Look,” he said, “If you like I’ll ask the manager.” She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store. “You won’t believe this, but there’s a lame-braided idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce.” He noticed the manager gesturing, and turned around to see the lady standing behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. “And this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half” he concluded. Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, “That was the finest example …