Something I read today....

[mizpeh]

We had Morton Bustard speak at our church this weekend. The first night he spoke on having a long range vision. This reminds me of his talk......


" Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. A wiser use of time is to build an eternal legacy. You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity." Rick Warren

[mizpeh]

"Life on earth is is just the dress rehearsal before the real production. You will spend far more time on the other side of death--in eternity--than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next....

One day your heart will stop beating. That will be the end of your body and your time on earth, but it will not be the end of you. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit. The Bible calls your earthly body a "tent", but refers to your future body as a "house." The Bible says, "When this tent we live in--our body here on earth--is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever." 2 Cor 5:1

While life on earth offers many choices, eternity offers only two: heaven or hell. Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity. If you learn to love and trust God's Son, Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of eternity with him. On the other hand, if you reject his love, forgiveness, and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God forever.

C.S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, 'All right then, have it your way.'" Tragically, many people will have to endure eternity without God because they chose to live without him here on earth.

When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. You will start living in light of eternity, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance. Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.

When you live in the light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesn't matter as much anymore. Paul said, "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done."

If your time on earth were all there is to your life, I would suggest you start living it up immediately. You could forget being good and ethical, and you wouldn't have to worry about any consequences of your actions. You could indulge yourself in total self-centeredness because your actions would have no long-term repercussions. But--and this makes all the difference--death is not the end of you! Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to every thing you do on earth. Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity.

The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. There's far more to life than just here and now! Today is the visible tip of the iceberg. Eternity is all the rest you don't see underneath the surface." Rick Warren

[Pressing-On]

3Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.
4And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.
5Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us Rom 5:3-5 Amp

Originally Posted by mizpeh

Looks like there is no way around it, to grow in Christ, to develop into a mature child of God, we have to go through trials. It's comforting to know that God is a good Father, who loves us and wants the best for us. He won't let us have more than we can bear but will not only make a way for us to endure the trials of life but He is with us through them all!

Always like everything, Mizpeh, but this really touched my heart!

[mizpeh]

Only One Life

VERSE 1
It matters so little
How much you may own
The places you've been
Or people that you know
For it all comes to nothing
When placed at His feet
It's nothing to Jesus
Just memories to me

VERSE 2
You can take all the treasures
From far away lands
And take all the riches
you can hold in your hands
And take all the pleasures
Your riches can buy
But will it help
When it's your time to die

CHORUS
Only one life
So soon it will pass
Only what's done for Christ will last
Only one chance to do His will
So give to Jesus all your days
It's the only life that pays
When you recall
You have but one life

VERSE 3
The days pass so swiftly
The months come and go
The years melt away
Like new falling snow
Spring turns to summer
Then summer to fall
Autumn brings winter
Then death come to all

CHORUS
Only one life
So soon it will pass
Only what's done for Christ will last
Only one chance to do His will
So give to Jesus all you days
It's the only life that pays
When you recall
You have but one life

TAG
When you recall
You have but one life

[mizpeh]

Can you make someone love you even with omnipotent power?

............Of course, that doesn't mean that the lover is impotent to woo his beloved and so elicit a free response of love. A serious lover isn't passive but tries to think of ways to win his beloved's affection. He may try to learn her "love language" along with her likes and dislikes and to act accordingly. In effect, he'll contemplate the truth of various subjunctive conditionals, like "If I were to do x, then she would respond by doing y." He'll try to bring about the circumstances in which his beloved will freely give her love to him.

Now we can make only fallible, probability judgements about the truth of these subjunctive conditionals. Sometimes we discover that we have made a disastrous miscalculation and she reacts just the opposite of what we had anticipated. But in God's case—at least if God is, as I believe, endowed with middle knowledge—He knows infallibly under just what circumstances a person would or would not freely respond to His loving initiatives. God cannot make you love Him, but He may be able to do something even greater, namely, arrange the circumstances in which you would freely respond to His love.

Now the obvious question that arises is, why didn't God so providentially order the world that everyone would come to freely love Him? This is essentially the problem of (moral) evil and the soteriological version of that problem, both of which I've addressed elsewhere (see "The Problem of Evil" and "How Can Christ Be the Only Way to God?"). In a nutshell, the answer is that it may not be within God's power to create a world of free persons (without generating overriding disadvantages) in which everyone freely comes to love God. It's not enough that there be circumstances in which each individual would come to freely love God; these circumstances must be compossible, and that just may not be the case. God still extends sufficient grace to every person He creates to come into a loving relationship with Him, but some people may be implacable and reject Him.

So in God's case, too, it still takes two to tango, and if one party refuses to dance, there will be no magic.

http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/...rticle&id=7615

[mizpeh]

From Chapter 8 of A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Worship is a lifestyle.

Worship is our first responsibility to God, yet most church members don't understand it. For many, worship is just a synonym for music. They say, “At our church we have the worship first, and then the teaching.” Or they think of worship as something for their benefit. As pastors, we often receive notes that say, “I loved the worship today. I got a lot out of it.” Others associate worship with ceremonies, candles, and communion or healing, miracles, and ecstatic experiences.

Yet all of these ideas fall short. Worship is far more than praising, singing, and praying to God. We worship God by enjoying him. C.S. Lewis said, “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him.”

One of our primary responsibilities as shepherds of God’s flock is to lead people to become true worshippers. Anthropologists have noted that worship is a universal urge, hard-wired by God into the very fiber of our being – an inbuilt need to connect with God. Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers! Jesus said, “The Father seeks ... worshipers.” (John 4:23 NAS)

Our job is to connect the God-given desire to worship with the One who seeks true worshippers. To do this you have to expand your understanding of worship as well. You need to stop thinking in terms of church services and begin to see worship as anything that brings pleasure to God.

Your church will become a church filled with true worshippers as you show them how every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when done for the pleasure of God. The Bible says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31 NIV) Martin Luther said, “A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God.” When you use your life for God’s glory, everything you do can become an act of worship. The Bible says, “Use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Rom. 6:13 NLT)

How is it possible to do everything to the glory of God? By doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and by carrying on a continual conversation with him while you do it! The Bible says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (Col. 3:23 NIV)

This is the secret to a lifestyle of worship – doing everything as if I was doing it for Jesus. The Message paraphrase says, “Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.” Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of his presence.

This moves worship beyond church services not only in space but also in time. We are told to “worship him continually” and to “praise him from sunrise to sunset.” In the Bible, people praised God at work, at home, in battle, in jail, and even in bed! Praise should be the first activity when you open your eyes in the morning and the last activity when you close them at night. David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Ps. 34:1 NAS)

When I first fell in love with my wife, I thought of her constantly: while eating breakfast, driving to school, attending class, waiting in line at the market, pumping gas – I could not stop thinking about Kay! I often talked to myself about her and thought about all the things I loved about her. This helped me feel close to her even though we lived several hundred miles apart and attended different colleges. By constantly thinking of her, I was abiding in her love. This is what real worship is all about – falling in love with Jesus. And this is where we need to lead the flocks God has placed in our care.
================================================== =========================================
Reminds me of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0rgrt1nTM

[Jeffrey]

Not bad for a non-"ONe God Apostolic Tongue-Talking-Holy-Roller-Born-Again-Believing-Devil-Chasing warrior for the King."

[mizpeh]

What is the most wonderful thing God has shown me in the last month?

That He wants me to call Him, Father. Jesus said so.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father Luke 11:2

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Not bad for a non-"ONe God Apostolic Tongue-Talking-Holy-Roller-Born-Again-Believing-Devil-Chasing warrior for the King."

Chapter 7 was excellent also. It laid a foundation for chapter 8.

[mizpeh]

Here is some more from Chapter 8 of A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren


"Bringing pleasure to God is called "worship." The Bible says, "the Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love." Ps 147:11

Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. Like a diamond, worship is multifaceted....

Anthropologists have noted that worship is a universal urge, hard-wired by God into the very fiber of our being-- an inbuilt need to connect with God. Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers! Jesus said, "The Father seeks worshipers." John 4:23

Depending on your religious background, you may need to expand your understanding of "worship." You may think of church services with singing, praying, and listening to a sermon. Or you may think of ceremonies, candles, and communion. Or you may think of healing, miracles, and ecstatic experiences. Worship can include these elements, but worship is far more than these expressions. Worship is a lifestyle.

Worship is far more than music. For many people, worship is just a synonym for music. They say, " At our church we have the worship first, and then the teaching." This is a big misunderstanding. Every part of a church service is an act of worship: praying, Scripture reading, singing, confession, silence, being still, listening to a sermon, taking notes, giving an offering, baptism, communion, signing a commitment card, and even greeting other worshipers...

Even worse, "worship" is often misused to refer to a particular style of music: "First we sang a hymn, then a praise and worship song," Or, "I like the fast praise songs but enjoy the slow worship songs the most." In this usage, if a song is fast or loud or uses brass instruments, it's considered "praise." But if it is slow and guiet and intimate, maybe accompanied by guitar, that's worship. This is a common misuse of the term "worship."

Worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all--fast and slow, loud and soft, old and new. You probably don't like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship.

Christians often disagree over the style of music used in worship, passionately defending their preferred style as the most biblical or God-honoring. But there is no biblical style! There are no musical notes in the Bible; we don't even have the instruments they used in Bible times.

Frankly, the music style you like best says more about you--your background and personality-- than it does about God. One ethnic group's music can sound like noise to another. But God likes variety and enjoys it all.

There is no such thing as "Christian" music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. There are no spiritual tunes. If I played a song for you without the words, you'd have no way of knowing if it were a "Christian" song.

Worship is not for your benefit.