What is stopping you from giving your all?

What is stopping you from growing to be the best Christian you can be?

Jesus told us exactly what would keep you from living the Christian life to the fullest . . . and you’ll be shocked to find out.

I’m going to tell you over the next several weeks what’s stopping you from being the Christian that deep down inside you long to be so don’t miss out beginning August 15th!

Listen as Pastor Joel talks about the privilege and duty of Christians to worship our God even when the circumstances of our lives are not what we want them to be!

But, the fact is, Spiritual Warfare happens every day of our life for the ‘regular’ Christian.

How do you fight a spiritual battle?

How do you win a spiritual battle?

Listen to this sermon by Pastor Joel Southerland and get some help on “Winning Spiritual Warfare for the Regular Guy”.

Immediately, two Bible passages came to mind….

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

I can’t tell you for sure if we are having revival in our midst – but I can tell you that it sure feels like revival and that 2 of the obvious signs of revival are happening….

1) Souls are being saved. The last night of February we baptized 18 people [the largest 1 time baptismal service in our history]. During revival, we had 4 more saved. This past Sunday, we had 15 saved [including my daughter] and 1 join for baptism. If all of those are baptized in March, we will have baptized nearly 40 people in 2 months! To put that in perspective, the most Liberty has every baptized in a YEAR is 52!! Keep inviting the lost and sharing your faith!

2) Giving is at record amounts. The last 2 weeks total offering [Tithes, Missions, KTFB, Revival] may be the largest 2 week offering in our history. If it isn’t, it is real close. I just finished reading in the OT [I'll let you look it up in your quiet time] where giving was a sign of revival. They had to stop the offering because the people were giving  faster than it could be used! Now, we aren’t going to stop the offering - I am a Baptist preacher and we are in a building program – but it is just another sign that revival is happening in our midst. Keep giving and lets see how fast we can get relocated so we can see more saved! Keep giving so we can see how many ways we can touch our community with the love of Christ.

The last sign of revival is confession of sin and forsaking of sin. Maybe today you want to start praying and asking God if there is something between you and Him that is keeping you from being in a close, vibrant, growing relationship with Him? If /when He shows you something – get rid of it and let’s watch as revival continues in our midst!!

Cause if this Ain’t revival….I don’t know what is!

There may be 50 stupid things people do for love, but according to Hayley and Michael DiMarco, those stupid things are derived from five basic acts: emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual. These acts of cupidity are motivated by an erroneous belief system: the assumption that the world’s views on love supersede the logic and direction of God on the matter. Embracing this false assumption—and the lies that spring from it—inevitably leads to “cupidity” [a play on the words “stupidity and cupid] and its snares and pitfalls.

But lest you lose hope and think your “cupidity” is incurable; it isn’t. And this book on the subject goes a long way to enlighten you on how to cure your “cupidity” with a good dose of biblical wisdom. The Spiritual truths they present will detail how the lies you have been buying from the world have been keeping you from experiencing real love: God’s way.

Grab a copy of the book for you or for someone you know who is in a relationship and needs some advise before they make a mistake.

The town of Cheviot, Ohio is taking extra security measures this year to protect baby Jesus [you can read about it here http://bit.ly/8jrEQ8 ]. Several years ago someone stole their baby Jesus from the town’s nativity scene several times. So, to combat that this year, they have installed security cameras to watch over baby Jesus. The article goes on to say that a new industry is being formed in order to protect baby Jesus in public nativity scenes. Some companies even put GPS locators in the dolls in case Jesus gets kidnapped. WOW!

And then I thought – I wish Christians protected Jesus as much at Christmas time. It seems that years ago the Lord Jesus was stolen completely away from the Holiday of Christmas as well. We let Him get “swiped” and we haven’t even gone looking for Him.

This Christmas – find Jesus and put Him in His rightful place!

He is the reason for the season!

A group in NY City is promoting their atheism with their dollars and time. You can read about it here: http://bit.ly/INBsv

Shouldn’t we as Christians be much more motivated than the atheist? After all, we believe God is real and that there are dire consequences for NOT believeing and trusting in Him!!

So, lets do the world a favor and be more vocal and more zealous and more committed to telling people about Jesus than the atheist are in telling people He doesn’t exist.

Go to work ~ school ~ community ~ family and share the love of Christ and the gospel message!!

Psalm 14:1

Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!