All posts tagged: Christianity

You Inherited your freedom; now it is time to fight for it

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Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Galatian 5:1-7 (The Message Translation) ___________________________ Photo Via _ Boxing WallPaper

The Death Of A Dream, Tale of a comeback Kid

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Galatians 6:4, 5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. (The Message) Do not let the death of a dream define who you are – you are not your dream. Do not let the death of a dream stop you from dreaming for greater things – it is just a part of your journey. Do not let the death of a dream isolate you from friends, from God and new ideas – you need some love, encouragement, inspiration and revelation. Do not let the death of a dream create in you a false sense of entitlement – don’t force things… Learn when to change course, pack up, say goodby and move on. Do not let the death of a dream steal what you can learn from the experience – use it as a teaching …

Dancing in the Spirit

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Is it Biblical? Dancing in the Spirit must be clearly distinguished from social dancing and from choreographed or orchestrated dancing, even if the latter were to take place in the church sanctuary. Instances of dancing in the Spirit, as seen in the 20th century Pentecostal revival, have generally involved a single participant spontaneously “dancing” with eyes closed without bumping into nearby persons or objects, obviously under the power and guidance of the Spirit. But again, this manifestation by itself is not an indication of greater spirituality, or a pattern that all worshippers are to seek. If the experience happens, it is because the worshipper has become so enraptured with God’s presence that the Spirit takes control of physical motions as well as the spiritual and emotional being. The biblical account of David dancing before the Lord is not an example of dancing in the Spirit. Scripture says “David danced before the LORD with all his might (2 Sam. 6:14), thus describing the personal joy and thanksgiving that David consciously expressed to the Lord. Based on …

Bible Trivia on Steroids?

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Get ready for the American Bible Challenge. Okay, there is a new game show coming to the Game Show Network. It is a bible trivia kind of a deal and will be starting sometime in August of this year. Is there anyone out there that would like to be a part of it if you had an opportunity? For me, no! Not because it’s a bad idea to make lots of money to give away to charities, but because I don’t want to disgrace myself on mainstream television by missing question about the bible. Here is a little breakdown of what it’s about: The Show The American Bible Challenge is a spirited game show that will celebrate the Bible and its place in American culture. Bible enthusiasts from all across the country will compete in a variety of challenges that put their knowledge of the Good Book to the test. The Host Comedian Jeff Foxworthy is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy® Award nominee and the best-selling author of 11 books. …

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

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Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like You have loved me Break my heart for what breaks Yours We are living in a day and time where everything we see or hear, potentially, has a deadening effect on us spiritually. The movies, the tv shows, the music and even our culture has this deadening effect on our sensitivity to what is holy and of God. Some of us have already become desensitized to these horrors and filth all around. To become desensitized is to become numb, stupefied or less likely to feel shocked or distressed at scenes of horror, sexual perversion, cruelty, violence and suffering by overexposure to such images. That is why a prayer like “break my heart Lord, for what breaks yours” is so powerful and timely. Would you join me today and for the rest of the week in praying this prayer – “break my heart Lord for what breaks yours?”. Would you join in sounding the alarm …

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 …

Beautiful Ugly Scars

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At 4 I started skipping school to go play what we call football, not America Football, but Football – the real deal. If you are still confused, I am talking about soccer. I can’t begin to tell you how many scars I have on my body from injuries playing soccer. But as rough as soccer can be, my most painful and visible scars did not come from playing soccer. I have eleven stitches on my right pinkie and 9 stitches on the right side of my face close to my ear and they were inflicted on me by my evil sister. The injuries were punishment for telling on her. She was not to bring boys home, but one evening I caught her in the back yard kissing a guy. When she realized that I had flagged her down, she came after me with a vengeance. Her weapon of choice was one of those hard old fashioned Swedish Slippers. The next thing I knew, I was being rushed to the hospital. All of us carry some kind …

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 …

Baptism: The triple portion

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I heard the story about a bunch of guys who used to gather together to read their bible every day on their lunch break. They were all from different denominations, so they agreed that they will not make it the goal to change each other’s theological point of view, but will allow the Word of God to do the speaking. One day while reading, they stumbled across a very controversial subject and each man found himself drawn into a deep discussion. But there was one guy in the group who was not an active participant in the discussions. So, he was asked to share his opinion. He sat up , cleared his thought and said, “I really don’t care about what is written in there, I am going to stick with what I’ve been told.” Could it be, that what you have been told about the Holy Spirit does not measure up with what is written about Him in God’s book? In this study post, I encourage you open the book for yourself and explore. …