Sunday, October 30, 2011

Nick Vujicic Fully Living for Jesus Christ

This might be the best Nick Vujicic video.  Very clear and anointed message.  Thankful for Nick. If you do not watch any other video on him, please watch this one.  May it Bless you richly according to God's Will.
 Nick Vujicic Fully Living for Jesus Christ



Nick Vujicic "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"

The first 3 videos make up my original introduction to Nick Vujicic.   His video "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!" was hugely inspirational to me at a time when I was asleep.  I believe his story was part of a plan God had to wake me up.  Hope that these Bless you.   The 4th video is much newer and continues to display that God has and is doing a great work in/through Nick's life.  Praise God for Nick.  Thankful for him.

Nicks 3 Keys he discusses:
1) Perspective
2) Vision
3) Choices


Nick Vujicic "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!" Part 1
Nick Vujicic "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!" Part2

Nick Vujicic "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!" Part3

Nick Vujicic Fully Living for Jesus Christ


Nick Vujicic Testimony : Extraordinary

Nick Vujicic has had a huge impact on my life.  Thankful to Scott Lehr @ Southbridge who reminded me of Nick Vujicic today.  I thought about Nick Vujicic a couple of weeks ago, but not since then.  This is one guy that I hope to think about and pray for every day for the rest of my life.  Very Thankful for Nick Vujicic.  Thankful that god made Nick just as he is.

I first watched his video(s) titled "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries" a couple of years ago and learned about 3 keys to all situations from Nick.  1) Vision, 2) Perspective and 3) Choices.   I hope that his video testimonial below will bless you.  

"God Loves you.  He hasn't forgotten you.  He will never forsake you.  Hope is in the name of God.  In Jesus Christ. Don't give up on God, because God will not and has not given up on you." - Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic Testimony : Extraordinary

John 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

 1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”    3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
   Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
   But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
   “I don’t know,” he said.
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”  16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
   But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
 17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
   The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
 18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
 20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
 24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
 27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
 30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
 34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
 39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
 41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.




Sunday, October 23, 2011

"He's Alive"

 Love this song.  Hope it blesses it you. - jsk
 
 David Phelps & Gaither Vocal Band - Singing "He's Alive" by Don Francisco:

 
"He's Alive" by Don Francisco
 
The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound
Half in hopeless sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin' through
To drag us all away

And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call
I hurried to the window
Looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers' feet

But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told me where she'd been
She said they might have moved Him in the night
And none of us knows where
The stone's been rolled away
And now His body isn't there

We both ran toward the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said
But the winding sheet they wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
And how or where they'd taken Him
Was more than I could tell

Oh something strange had happened there
Just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go
Circumstance and speculation
Couldn't lift me very high
'Cause I'd seen them crucify him
Then I saw him die

Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything I'd promised Him
Just added to my shame
When at last it came to choices
I denied I knew His name
And even if He was alive
It wouldn't be the same

But suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove the shadows from the room
And Jesus stood before me
With his arms held open wide
And I fell down on my knees
And I just clung to Him and cried

Then He raised me to my feet
And as I looked into His eyes
The love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies
Guilt in my confusion
Disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I'd ever had
Just melted into peace

He's alive yes He's alive
Yes He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive yes He's alive
Oh He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive yes He's alive
Hallelujah He's alive
He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive He's alive He's alive
- I believe it He's alive
Sweet Jesus

Friday, October 21, 2011

I Never Heard This Before by Timothy Decker

The Tragedy of a Perverted Gospel

Dick was a man in his late thirties whose wife had recently left him, plunging him into depression. He had come to me because he needed the Lord’s help and he didn’t seem to be getting it. Dick had enough sense to know that genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should, in crisis circumstances, be marked by some degree of strength and victory. He had none. His salva­tion wasn’t working. “What could be wrong?” he wanted to know.
So I asked Dick to tell me his spiritual history. He spoke of responding to an invitation and being baptized in a large church in Philadelphia. And he said he had been baptized in the Spirit among a group of charismatics in Reno. These were the outstanding details, and while there was more to his story, I never did hear what I was listening for. Finally, I asked Dick if he was sure that he had ever been converted to begin with. That, he acknowledged, had always been a haunting doubt.
I dug deeper and asked if he believed in the Atonement — had he asked God to remove his sin by the Blood of Jesus Christ? Yes, he thought he had. Well, then, had he submitted to Jesus Christ as his Lord — the controlling authority of his life? And with that I struck a nerve.
Dick, without hesitation, answered, “No.”
It was a familiar scene. It had happened so many times before in my counseling: people, grop­ing after spiritual reality, suddenly admitting that they were trying to know Jesus as Savior while avoiding Him as Lord. As I began to explain the scriptural conditions for salvation based on a rela­tionship with the Lord, Dick interrupted, “I never heard this before.” And it is a sad fact that so many people have not heard it. They have been offered a gospel that sounds promising, but that leaves out the essential ingredient of saving faith: they have never really understood that Jesus Christ is Lord.
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him.” There is no scripture anywhere that says we are to receive Jesus as Savior. He comes — when He comes at all — as Lord, and in His Lord­ship saves us from ourselves and our sin. It is no wonder that many so-called Christians in the best evangelical churches are leading joyless, defeated lives; they have tried to come into salvation through a formula, a plan of salvation, a prayer, a raised hand — or whatever. But the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His name is above every name. He has all power in heaven and in earth. We embrace a deception unless we embrace the One whose authority con­quers the very self-will that has damned us.
People who try to have a salvation without submission have bought, as it were, a tree with­out roots — a Christmas tree that will look green and beautiful for a while, and that will display a quantity of light and ornament, but will wither and die in time. Only what is rooted and built up in Christ Jesus the Lord will last. Christmas-tree Christianity is the result of a gospel that deletes conditions set down by Jesus Himself: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” An expur­gated gospel says, “If you want to be a Christian, just ask God to forgive you and everything will be fine; you will have happiness and remarkable answers to prayer and all things will work together for good. And, best of all, you will get to go to heaven instead of hell.”
This gospel is accompanied by sentimental pleading and popular-style music; it is promoted by attractive and articulate religious salesmen who offer a congenial Jesus who accepts all corners. The real Jesus is kept out of sight be­cause His message is too strong and it is feared He will discourage people.
The real Jesus separates the human race into two categories: those who want to follow Him, and those who would rather not. There are those who hear the call to the Kingdom and draw near with true hearts in full assurance of faith. They count the cost and receive the promise. They endure as seeing Him who is invisible. They know that following the Lord Jesus Christ is the highest calling and the deepest fulfillment.
As they say in the investment business, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” And a gospel that costs believers nothing is not only too good to be true, it is an insult to the Lord Jesus. He is the obedient Son who became the author of eternal salvation to them that, in turn, obey Him. The confession of the lips that Jesus is Lord, together with the heart-belief that God has raised Him from the dead, is necessary to salvation. But if we confess that Jesus is Lord, and continue to do as we please, we will be chal­lenged by Jesus Himself: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?”
There is no way around it. The real Jesus offers a real gospel rooted in His authority. Jesus warned that the day of judgment will expose many who say “Lord, Lord,” but who will have this sentence handed down: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
A great deal of attention is given to the doctrine of salvation by grace, rather than works, as though the two did not go together. Writing to Titus, Paul says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teach­ing us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” Far from de-emphasizing or postponing obedience, the grace of God insists upon it. Obedience is what salvation is all about, as the famous passage in Ephesians actually goes on to say: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works....”
If the gospel makes plain that we are not saved by good works, it makes equally plain that we are saved for good works. Philippians 2 warns, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” The mean­ing is clear: we do not work up our salvation, but God works it in — and we had best work it out! Otherwise we will be like those in Titus who “profess to know God, but in works deny Him.”
It is high time for Christians who hold to the authority of the Bible and the personal experi­ence of salvation as taught in the Bible to take a hard look at what we are offering to a lost world. An easy gospel may gain us more professions, and may fill our churches, but we will find after all that we have attracted the half-hearted, the uncommitted, and, to tell the truth, the patently unconverted. In a world characterized by com­promise and infected with the quest for self-fulfillment, instant immortality claimed through a painless cross has its appeal. But the expediency will damn the very sinners it promises to save and will corrupt the Church it hopes to build.
Our passion for souls must never outweigh either our passion for the truth or our confi­dence in Jesus Christ as Someone who knows what He is talking about. A gospel modified so as to soften the conditions of Lordship, attempting to win more souls for Christ, will in reality win none at all. It is better to face the facts that the gate is narrow, the road difficult, and the follow­ers few, than to pretend that by tinkering with the truth we can somehow improve the disappoint­ing odds.
I say with Paul, let the real Gospel be foolish­ness to the clever and a stumbling block to the religious, that in its severity it will have the power to save those who believe it.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Encouraging words on the Book of Daniel


-------

If you read the book of Daniel and only see a den of lions and strange visions, you have missed the main character in the book - the sovereign God! Daniel wrote this book not to glorify himself but to exalt the Lord. In every circumstance, in every crisis, Daniel points us to a God who is at work in human history.
To say that God is sovereign simply means that nothing happens that is not planned or permitted by God. That is true of kingdoms and is true of our lives. Daniel's God is not a weak, frustrated deity who sits in heaven, wringing his hands, hoping that everything will turn out right. He is a God who orders all events according to his own will.
The book of Daniel is written in a literary form know as apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic books speak to us in those times when God seems to be absent. The crushed people of Judah in Daniel's day were saying, "Where is God?" Daniel answers their questions by showing them that even in a national catastrophe God is working out his plan and purpose.
Daniel is able to resist compromise because of his relationship to the sovereign God. His obedience was simply an expression of God's kingship in his life. Daniel's courage to proclaim God's message came from his allegiance to the sovereign Lord who reigned as King, even above the kings of Babylon.