Archive for September 26, 2011
Faith statement brings student punishment (OneNewsNow.com)
Posted: September 26, 2011 in OneNewsNow.com0
Priest offends ‘gay’ mayor, wrong person reprimanded #OneNewsNow.com#
Posted: September 26, 2011 in OneNewsNow.comHandicapped kids … better off dead (OneNewsNow.com)
Posted: September 26, 2011 in OneNewsNow.com, Pro-LifePlease go to www.180movie.com, and watch this 33 min video about the comparison between Hitler’s Holocaust and Abortions Holocaust of babies. This is a very moving documentary. If you are for abortion, you may just change your mind after watching this. I sure hope so! Killing an unborn baby in a mother’s womb is no different that Hitler killing all the Jews during WWII. After watching, you can go to www.heartchanger.com, where you can order copies of the movie to give out to people.
Are You Faithful in the Little Things? by Mark D. Roberts
Posted: September 26, 2011 in The High Calling“ ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been
faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten
cities as your reward.’ ”
I grew up in a church that celebrated the great things God had done through
our people. The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood was once one of the
largest churches in the world. From “Hollywood Pres,” hundreds of people filled
the globe as full-time missionaries. Hundreds more became pastors or full-time
church workers. Campus Crusade for Christ (now “Cru”) was founded by Bill Bright
during his days at Hollywood Pres. Louie Zamperini, the star of the
best-selling book Unbroken was on the church staff. During her tenure
at the church, Henrietta Mears had founded Forest Home Christian
Conference Center and Gospel Light Publishing, a world leader in the production
of Sunday School curriculum. Lloyd Ogilive, who pastored the Hollywood
church during much of my time there, was a prolific author and a preacher who
was once ranked among the finest preachers in America. God did great things
through the people at Hollywood Pres, and we were proud to be used in such
works.
But there was a downside to all of this greatness. Yes, it could inspire
ordinary people to do small works for God. But, it could also leave us feeling
insignificant. How could we, just plain disciples of Jesus, do great things for
Jesus? And if we couldn’t do great things, perhaps we should just sit in the
bleachers and cheer on God’s real athletes.
In the parable found in Luke 19:11-27, Jesus teaches us to think differently
about what we do for God in this life. He uses a parable of a nobleman and his
servants to encourage us not to worry about whether what we’re doing is big or
little. In this parable, a nobleman journeys to a distant empire in order to be
crowned king. Before leaving, he divides his property among his servants, giving
each one “ten pounds of silver” (literally, ten minas, or 1,000 days wages for
a worker; 19:13). The nobleman tells his servants to invest the money on his
behalf while he’s gone.
When the nobleman, now the king, returns, he asks his servants to account for
what they did with his money. The first servant says, “Master, I invested your
money and made ten times the original amount!” (19:16). The delighted king
responds, “Well done!…You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to
you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward” (19:17). The original
Greek of this verse emphasizes the king’s belief that what he had given to the
servant was insignificant. Verse 17 could be translated more literally, “You
have been faithful in the smallest, least important thing” (from the Greek
elachistos ).
This statement challenges me to wonder: Am I being faithful in the little
things in life and work? Or am I waiting around for something great before I
strive to be faithful? Am I willing to be faithful in things nobody will ever
see? Or am I investing my effort only in actions that will draw attention to
myself?
Tomorrow, I’ll reflect a bit more on this parable from Luke. For now, you may
want to consider the questions I am mulling over with the Lord.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Are you being faithful in
the little things? Or are you waiting around for something great before you
strive to be faithful? Are you willing to be faithful in things nobody will ever
see? Or are you investing your effort only in actions that will draw attention
to yourself?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for the challenge and
encouragement of this passage from Luke. It challenges me to consider my own
attitudes toward the “little things” in my life. It challenges me to think of
faithfulness more broadly, to seek to live for you in every part of life, not
just the “big things.”
This passage encourages me not to worry if my life seems to be filled with
“little things.” My calling is not to worry about the
size of my impact, but rather about the length and depth of my faithfulness to
you. Help me, I pray, to know what this means and to live it out each day,
including today.
All praise be to you, God whose greatness exceeds my imagination, God of the
“little things.” Amen.
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/are-you-faithful-little-things
“There are two kinds of people,” said advice columnist Abigail Van Buren. “Those who walk into a room and say, ‘There you are!’ and those who say, ‘Here I am!’” The one Person who could have rightly declared, “Here I am,” seemed oddly reluctant to promote Himself. Jesus was much more interested in others. At His first miracle, He admonished His mother, “My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). Often He told the people He had healed: “Don’t tell anyone about this” (Mark 1:44).
But when He met individuals, Jesus had a disarming way of seeing into their souls. “Who touched My robe?” He asked, as a frightened woman who had brushed against His garment cowered nearby (Mark 5:32-33). Desperate and suffering from a 12-year physical condition, she wished to remain anonymous while accessing Jesus’ power. He, on the other hand, wanted a personal connection with her. “Daughter, your faith has made you well,” He said gently. “Go in peace” (Mark 5:34).
On another occasion, Jesus ignored the taboos of His day when He reached out at Jacob’s well in Samaria to a woman with a sketchy past (John 4:4-42). Not only was He alone with a woman (gasp!), He engaged her in conversation. In so doing, He shrewdly turned an innocuous request—“Please give Me a drink” (John 4:7)— into a bridge to the woman’s very soul (John 4:17-19). It was as if her guard dropped and Jesus could suddenly say, “There you are!” Rather than recoiling at being “discovered,” the woman ran to the town to announce what had just happened (John 4:29).
As we learn to supplant “Here I am!” with “There you are!” we may find that we’re being used to spark discovery of God by others—reflecting the ways of Jesus Himself.
http://www.ourdailyjourney.org/2011/09/26/there-you-are/
