HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

This Week in Christian History

Friday, February 11, 2011

1945 - Bonhoeffer Transferred to Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Where does a Christian fit in a nation which makes itself god? Deitrich Bonhoeffer answered that the Christian's duty is to resist such a regime. This landed him in a concentration camp and cost him his life. (Read more)
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1865 - Ex-Slave Henry Garnet Addressed U.S. House
The galleries of the United States House of Representatives were packed. Black and white alike vied for a place where they might share in the historic moment. For the first time in the history of the Republic, a black man--and an ex-slave at that--was about to address the House of Representatives. It was President Lincoln who asked Presbyterian minister Henry Highland Garnet to... (Read more)
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1717 - William Williams, Welsh Evangelist
Throughout their history, the Welsh have been great singers; and hymns have been among their favorite songs. One of their most popular hymns is "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah." Crowds at rugby matches have been known to break out singing it. On February 11, l7l7 was born William Williams, the Welsh evangelist who wrote the hymn... (Read more)
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1564 - The Last Sermon of John Calvin
On February 6, 1564, an era came to an end. The man who had done as much as any other to forge the theology of the Reformation, preached his last sermon. Unable to walk, John Calvin was carried to church in a chair. His mouth filled with blood as he spoke and... (Read more)
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356 - Athanasius and the Creed of Christ
The historic Christian faith was forged in turbulent times and under perilous conditions. The creeds and doctrines that shaped our Christian identity emerged from intense theological (and sometimes physical) battles. On February 8, 356 armed troops barged in at the middle of a worship service to capture a single unarmed man--the pastor, Athanasius. The reason? Emperor Constantius favored the Arian doctrine--a teaching that Jesus was not fully God but a created being... (Read more)
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Kung Hey Fat Choi!

The Chinese Year of the Rabbit Begins

In the Chinese calendar,

today marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit,

which is expected to be a 'quiet, positive & inspiring' year.

Find out what else to expect.

Could the Year of the Rabbit bring you love?

Cocktails made for the Chinese New Year

Finding Contentment by Killing Comparisons

Ever wonder why contentment seems elusive?
 
Anne Peterson | posted 1/31/2011

 1 of 3

Being a Facebook user, I love posting prayer requests or sharing photographs with friends and family members. Within seconds news travels through cyberspace, lessening the distance between family and friends. Unfortunately, this also becomes a temptation for comparisons, which lead to discontent.

We log on and see one of our friends has happily posted an achievement. Instead of responding with heartfelt congratulations, we turn a little green. Isn't this the same thing I've labored on for years with few results? Defeated, we log off, busying ourselves with something else.

Learn more through: Psalms: Managing Your Emotions.

What can we do when we are tempted to compare ourselves with others? Why is this such an obstacle to contentment?

Making comparisons is nothing new. Cain compared himself to Abel. Jesus' disciples struggled with this too. In one conversation, they tried to determine which of them would suffer in the future, and who would be spared. Jesus asked them, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" (John 21:23).

When we compare ourselves with others we are not walking by faith. Instead, we are trying to control things. Comparisons get us into trouble for at least two reasons.

1) They can make us feel better than the person we are comparing ourselves to, leading to pride. Remember the publican who thanked God that he wasn't a sinner? The enemy of our souls loves it when we struggle with pride. It was his downfall.

2) They can make us feel worse than the person we are comparing ourselves to, leading to low self-esteem, which still keeps our focus on ourselves. Although it says in James that God is not a respecter of persons, we do not believe this if we believe God is withholding something from us that is rightfully ours.

To be content, we need to swap lies for truth

Sometimes we even compare how God is working now with how he has worked in the past. In this way we bring God down to our level, judging his track record. This is arrogance. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." In other words, we don't think like God. He wants us to walk in step with his Spirit. That means we are not to run ahead of him pulling him where we want him to be, nor are we to get behind him pushing him in the direction we want him to go. God is immovable.

As much as God wants us to walk by faith, Satan, the enemy of our souls, is determined to point out little things we hold against God. When Satan introduces these lies to us, we need to refute them. The only way we will be equipped to do that is if we saturate ourselves with the truth. The lies he tells us have a little truth mixed in, making them harder to recognize as lies. Only as we learn Scripture can we sort them out.

The world is forever pointing out things that should be ours, creating in us a sense of entitlement. Then Satan points us to those who have attained the things we hope for, pushing us farther down the road of discontentment.

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Don't Waste a Crisis

DISCIPLESHIP

Don't Waste a Crisis

Crises, while unwanted, are windows of opportunity for the Cure of Souls.
by John Ortberg

I once was part of a survey on spiritual formation. Thousands of people were asked when they grew most spiritually, and what contributed to their growth. The response was humbling—at least for someone who works at a church.

The number one contributor to spiritual growth was not transformational teaching. It was not being in a small group. It was not reading deep books. It was not energetic worship experiences. It was not finding meaningful ways to serve.

It was suffering.

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Eternal Life is to Live Christ

Let us think for a moment of the tremendous standards of John. How are they attainable? I always say John hits the ceiling. He hits the very ceiling of Heaven. You can't go higher than John because of his standards. But how are they attainable? Now the essence of the letter of John is this: In the first verses he says that he is going to tell us about "that eternal life." He says, "That which was from the beginning" in verses 1 and 2. He says, "I'm going to show you about that eternal life." But the whole point about the eternal life that John is showing us is not some vague theory down here; it's a Person who walked on earth. That's his point. That eternal life which I am referring to is a Person who walked a life like this on earth-that's eternal life. Now, that's very important. It means it isn't some vague gift we receive just by grace. It's a life that is exactly like the life lived by Jesus. That's tremendous.

So the only eternal life is the perfect life. That's what he says. He says, "I'm going to show you a life which we handled, which we saw and we examined and we looked upon. And that's the eternal life. It's a Person who walked like this on earth."

Now this is the whole meaning of the letter of John. You now say that that Person lives in you, and you in Him. If He does so, He lives that life through you, so you're like that. My, that's a statement isn't it? That's exactly the whole message of I John. We've seen eternal life in action. Eternal life is that One full of grace and truth, as of the only begotten Son of the Father, Who walked this earth, and Whom we saw with our eyes. Now that's eternal life. Now this eternal life you claim lives in you. You say He's in you, and you abide in Him and He in you. If that is so, He is living through you exactly that same life. Is He? My, that's a challenge, isn't it? That's the whole of I John. He then divides that life out under three headings, to each of which he gives three sections. One is, it's a life of invincible faith. The other is, it's a life of continued holiness. And the third is, it's a life of perfect love Those are the three sections of I John. And he goes back to them again and again. That's the standard.

Karuizawa Japan Conference of 1954 by Norman P. Grubb
Topic: "Daily Walk in the Spirit"

“I was appointed a herald”

Among the various designations which the apostle Paul (the apostle of spiritual fulness) took for himself, was the designation ‘herald’. The word is not so translated in our versions, unfortunately, but wherever you find the word ‘preacher’ or ‘preaching’ or ‘preached’ you have in the original the word ‘herald’, ‘heralding’. Paul actually called himself that in both of his letters to Timothy, once in each. “I was appointed a herald” (1 Tim. 2:7); “Whereunto I was appointed a herald” (2 Tim. 1:11). Our version is ‘a preacher’, and the original idea of the herald was one who was called upon to make an official proclamation. He might be sent by the king to make a royal proclamation, or by a prince or by a magistrate or by a military governor, but it was an official proclamation he was called upon to make. Paul used that word in 2 Cor. 4:5: “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord”, “we herald Christ Jesus as Lord”, “we make the proclamation that Christ Jesus is Lord”, and the herald made his proclamation, and he did not ask anybody if they would accept what he announced; he did not make it optional at all. You can do what you like about it. You have to recognise this fact. What you do is your responsibility. This is God’s fact. “God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).

All that is meant by Christ as absolute Lord in the appointment of God, in Headship, the Head of every man, the Head of the creation, and Head over all things to the church - all that which we have not yet ranged and understood, but all that that means of the perfect Headship, sovereign Lordship, of Jesus Christ in all things, in every detail, is the first basic factor to spiritual fulness. In so far as He has His place in us and in our affairs, that will determine our measure of spiritual fulness, or the measure in which God is with us. The measure of God in fulness is the measure in which Christ is Lord. Of course, that is so familiar to you, that you wonder why there is so much emphasis, but there it is.

From ~ The Ordinances of Heaven by T. Austin-Sparks 1888~1971 (Date of Publication Unknown)

Watch: The Daily Show features historic Turkey Creek, Mississippi

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bird Like Me
www.thedailyshow.com
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Last night the historic African American community of Turkey Creek, in Gulfport, Mississippi, was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Derrick Evans, a Bridge The Gulf contributor (read his posts here) who is also Executive Director of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives and Advisor to the Gulf Coast Fund, tells of how residents formed an unlikely alliance to protect their land.

This prompts Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac to test a theory: that birds are treated better than black people in Mississippi.