After obedience—what?

And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side.… Mark 6:45–52 .

We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.
What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process—that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
God’s training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present; but if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

Chambers, O. (1986). My utmost for his highest: Selections for the year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering.

Kerby's Point of View - The Ten "You Cannots"

Thank you Kirby for this, these are some powerful, common sense statements. Merriam Webster Dictionary: common sense, noun
: sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. Well, that pretty much left out most of our politicians! Just as I wrote that I was prompted about this Scripture in 2 Timothy...Which is "A Call to Prayer"...
1. First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
2. for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
3. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth

Thank you Lord for Your Great Love!

July 26, 2013 The Ten “You Cannots” by Kerby Anderson     In the aftermath of all the congressional spending, there have been some e-mails circulating with common sense sayings written by wise people long ago. One of those is the ten “you cannots.” If you have not seen them, here they are: 1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. 2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. 4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. 5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. 6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. 7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. 8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. 9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. 10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves. Over the years they have been incorrectly attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Actually they were written in 1916 by the Reverend William Boetcker, a Presbyterian clergyman and pamphlet writer. The confusion stemmed from a pamphlet published in 1942 entitled “Lincoln on Limitations.” The pamphlet had a Lincoln quote on one side and these statements by the Boetcker on the other side. Although the pastor was given credit on the pamphlet, many reading the pamphlet wrongly assumed that all of the statements were by Lincoln. Sometimes people confuse it with a statement by the late Adrian Rogers. “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.” There is wisdom in both of these pastors’ sayings. We live in a world today that really believes we can help one part of society by harming another part of society. We need to listen to these wise pastors before we enact more legislation that attempts to help some by harming others. Click here to sign-up for Kerby's Point of View Point of View | P.O. Box 30 | Dallas, TX 75221 Click here to view this message as HTML in your browser. Click here to forward this message. Click here to change your email preferences. Click here to Unsubscribe from e-mail.

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Meals on wheels

Meals on Wheels,  It's about people helping people and neighbor helping neighbor; providing food and nourishment to those in need is the right and moral thing to do. 

Click here or above to go the their website Meals on Wheels

“Even thou wast as one of them.”

This was a "daily read" I came across and it really hit home!

         — Obadiah 1:11
Brotherly kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of need, but instead thereof, the men of Esau made common cause with Israel’s foes. Special stress in the sentence before us is laid upon the word thou; as when Caesar cried to Brutus, “and thou Brutus”; a bad action may be all the worse, because of the person who has committed it. When we sin, who are the chosen favourites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis; ours is a crying offence, because we are so peculiarly indulged. If an angel should lay his hand upon us when we are doing evil, he need not use any other rebuke than the question, “What thou? What dost thou here?” Much forgiven, much delivered, much instructed, much enriched, much blessed, shall we dare to put forth our hand unto evil? God forbid!

A few minutes of confession may be beneficial to thee, gentle reader, this morning. Hast thou never been as the wicked? At an evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke was not altogether offensive to thine ear, even thou wast as one of them. When hard things were spoken concerning the ways of God, thou wast bashfully silent; and so, to on-lookers, thou wast as one of them. When worldlings were bartering in the market, and driving hard bargains, wast thou not as one of them? When they were pursuing vanity with a hunter’s foot, wert thou not as greedy for gain as they were? Could any difference be discerned between thee and them? Is there any difference? Here we come to close quarters. Be honest with thine own soul, and make sure that thou art a new creature in Christ Jesus; but when this is sure, walk jealously, lest any should again be able to say, “Even thou wast as one of them.” Thou wouldst not desire to share their eternal doom, why then be like them here? Come not thou into their secret, lest thou come into their ruin. Side with the afflicted people of God, and not with the world.


Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening: Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Kerby's Point of View - Unconstitutional Surveillance

Thought this a very interesting and important comment. Remember that the Dodd-Frank reform act was created in the guise of "consumer protection".
But, then again so was "Homeland Security".

July 23, 2013 Unconstitutional Surveillance by Kerby Anderson     Americans may not like the fact that the National Security Agency has seized data on their phone and Internet usage, but feel like there is nothing they can do about it. Constitutional law professor Randy Barnett (Georgetown University) believes Congress or the courts can put a stop to these data seizures. He argues in a recent column that, “The NSA’s Surveillance is Unconstitutional.”     He also adds another concern to this invasion of our privacy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform) is compiling a massive database of citizen’s personal information and financial transactions.     Randy Barnett says all of this violates some of the foundation principles of our government. The Fourth Amendment bans unreasonable seizures of a person’s papers. It also protects what we today call “informational privacy.” The real question is whether seizing the records of private communications companies is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. He argues that it does because of the way in which the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court routinely approves the blanket seizure of every American’s metadata.     That raises a second constitutional question. The Fifth Amendment stipulates that no one may be deprived of property “without due process of law.” The secret judicial proceedings, he believes, is the very “antithesis of the due process of law.” The secrecy of these meetings makes it impossible to hold public servants accountable.     He also points to the future abuse of these records. Gun rights advocates oppose gun registration because gun registries would make it feasible for gun confiscation to take place in the future. Likewise, these massive databanks make it feasible for government workers to download and use the private contents of our electronic communication and financial transactions without our knowledge and consent.     Randy Barnett calls on Congress or the courts to put a stop to these unreasonable blanket seizures of data. I hope one of these bodies takes his advice. Click here to sign-up for Kerby's Point of View Point of View | P.O. Box 30 | Dallas, TX 75221 Click here to view this message as HTML in your browser. Click here to forward this message. Click here to change your email preferences. Click here to Unsubscribe from e-mail.

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Independence day

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.

Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

The correct order?

Just saw a comment...Working out mind, body and soul: prayer, reflection...
Please do not take this as critical or judgmental and I would never put the persons name, etc. in any of this because I see many who put it in this order. It struck me as I read the statement that years ago I would have spoken or written it much the same way, stating I need to work on body, then soul, the emotions, etc. then spirit. I had decided that I was okay in my life and that everything was pretty much up to one's own interpretation any way. Well, the Creator of the heavens, Earth and all that is contained in them says something very different, that it's His Word and it is NOT open to my interpretation! See 2 Peter 1:19-21 and Isaiah 55:6-11.

Problem with my thinking or as my Minister used to say, my stinkin thinkin, it's completely backwards! As I began studying God's Word way back there in 1986...wow, sometimes seems like eons ago and other times just like it was yesterday, I began to see what God said about these issues and where, by His Grace, we are supposed to concentrate, in other words, putting things back in the right order of how He created us to be which is Spirit first, then soul and body. To start with you can't put spirit first unless, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again, for that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is Spirit. 

There are many Scriptures that God uses to show us the Way, the Way to first get born again and the reason for this, then the Way to get ourselves in His order, the correct order, Spirit, soul and then body. It goes against our natural tendencies because we have all in one way or another put ourselves and body first. But Jesus, who is the Way, states several places that if we are to follow Him then we must deny ourselves, take up OUR cross DAILY and follow Him. As I mentioned there are a number of Scriptures that state God's order, Spirit, soul & body but one of my favorite is 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24-Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely ; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Jesus, the Example

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Good Word of trust, safety & protection

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
—Psalm 5:2–3

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, "Destroy him!"
—Deuteronomy 33:27

Steve Young                             

RE/MAX Associates

(817) 276-5149
www.steveyoung.pro 

www.steveyoungtexasrealestate.pro

Senior Real Estate Specialist

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