A new day in Christ

I woke up this morning with joy in my heart
for with the dear Savior, a new day I’ll start.
His mercies are fresh every morning you see
God’s grace is sufficient to supply every need
May we praise Him today, for His goodness is sweet
and may the Spirit control us and make us complete.

Where there is no Vision

It has been said that, “people only see what they are prepared to see.”  Many times we fail to adequately portray the vision that God has placed on our hearts. Others cannot catch the vision until the vision has been properly communicated,

A vision takes Pondering, Preparation, Passion, Perseverance, and Power.

Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference.

Vision looks inward and becomes duty. Vision looks outward and becomes aspiration. Vision looks upward and becomes faith.

“Momentum by itself is useless to truly bless the church, but, when it is caught up on the wings of the Spirit of God, it can lift the church to greater heights.”

Overwhelmed by the goodness of God

I wonder if a church full of Christians, overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord, could have an affect on a world, full of sinners, overwhelmed by the hopelessness of life without the Lord.

The Great Need in Revival

“A revived heart resonates with the presence of holiness, the peace of heaven, and the praise of the Holy One.”

“A revived church loathes worldliness, longs for worship, and laments a lost world.”

The Heart of our children

“May we plant in our children’s heart such a desire to know God, that when they grow older, the desire of their soul will be to know that same God in a far deeper way.”

Priority of the ministry

“The priority of the ministry is not a positive performance of our duties, but a pursuit of a deeper relationship with our Lord.”

Home that Flourishes

“An atmosphere of holiness and love in the home, inspires godliness, grace and goodness to flourish.”

Taking the Church to New Heights

“Momentum by itself is useless to truly bless the church, but, when it is caught up on the wings of the Spirit of God, it can lift the church to greater heights.”

Recognizing true Worship

“For many today, the thought of “worship” in the church has come to mean a sense of being caught up with feelings and emotions. True worship always centers around the Word of God. It is being controlled by the Spirit of God enough to recognize truth and holiness.”

Food for Thought – The Latest and Greatest GPS

There are so many GPS units on the market today…….Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom, Kenwood, Lanzar, Rand McNally, Pyle, Ouku, Cobra, and others. Each one is designed to be able to route some to travel from one destination to another in the best way possible. You can set up to go the fastest way or the shortest way. You can calculate to avoid certain types of roads, toll booths, and traffic interferences. You can access different color maps, different languages, and even different voices to speak directions. Some have small screens and some have large screens. 

Julie and I bought our first GPS several years ago. It was a Tom Tom with just the basic options. We thought it was the best thing since microwave popcorn. I would be pretty certain that we have four or five Tom Tom’s now. Pastoring a military church, it seemed like that every time a family would PCS back to the states, they would leave their GPS unit with us. We like everything about our Tom Tom. It has gotten us to many destinations without a hitch.

What if we decided that we were going to make a change in our GPS unit. We go down to the local retail store and we tell them that we want the “latest and greatest” He immediately pulls a box off the shelf and says, “this is what you need.Everyone is buying this GPS. It has a great look to it. It is easy to read. The language is simple to understand. If you will go online, you will see that this is the number one seller.

So, we purchase it, and take it home and get it all set up and ready to go. We leave for vacation a few days later and put in our destination and off we go. We just sit there amazed at the beautiful screen and all the options that it offers. An hour or so down the road we near the next interstate that we are to get on and to our surprise the GPS does not even show the interstate on the screen. We try to recalculate the route, but to no avail. Further down the road the same problem is repeated and now we are becoming confused. Why would this thing leave out a major interstate. Later on in our journey, it calculates our route and as we look at our next turn that it gives us on the GPS, we find that there is no such road on our route. What is going on with this thing. It sure looks good, but it is lacking on consistency of the routes. When we return from our trip we take it back to the retail store and inquire about the issues that we ran into. The store clerk proceeds to tell us that this is  the way that they have made the new GPS models. People are more interested in the way it looks, the easy read screens, and the clear voice, than they are the factuality of the maps.

It is sad, but, this is the same reasoning that many people have when it comes to purchasing a Bible. There are many people who purchase a Bible that is the newest thing. It is a lot easier to read than the old, out-dated King James Version, but, there are many roads on the map that are eliminated, changed, or sometimes roads are added on that are not there. 

Over forty passages from the original text are left out of the New International Version. Nearly two-hundred passages are left out of the New American Standard Version. Both of these versions add multiple applications that are not in the original text. Major doctrines are tampered with in these versions. In I Timothy 3:16 and Romans 14:10 of NIV, the deity of Christ is called into question. In Isaiah 14:12 Satan(Lucifer) is called “morning star” which is a name given to Christ. The Virgin Birth of Christ is brought into question in Matthew 1:26, Luke 2:23, Luke 2:43, and John 1:14. There are a number of passages in the NIV where the doctrine of the Trinity is taken apart. We could go on.

Why would I want a GPS that would lead me wrong, confuse me, leave out major roads that I need to know about…..but, even more than this, why would I want a Bible that is the newest thing, seemingly easier to read, everyone is using it, but, it is misleading, doctrinally unsound, confusing in application, and missing scripture.

God is not the” author of confusion .” Psalms 12:6-7  says,” The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”