Risk Takers

By Pastor Ken Foreman

Text: Luke 5:1-11

Peter was a professional fisherman, a fish expert, so to speak. Convinced of his own prowess and abiblities, he thought he fully understood what he was doing - knew all the ins and outs. Yet, though he'd toiled all night - still he'd caught no fish! What's more, he was vocal about it.

Obeying was key to what God wanted to show him... Peter's "nevertheless" meant taking a risk. "What if?" can get in the way of obedience. Then, as now, God is looking for risk-takers!

Steve Jobs, in a speech to graduates at Stamford University, said... "External expectations fall away when you realize you're going to die. No one wants to die - not even those who want to go to heaven. Death is the best invention of life."

Risk means possible dangers and death. (This is not Russian roulette or casino gambling.) To the follower of Christ, obedience means taking the right kind of risk. "Nevertheless - at Thy Word..."

Step out in faith... "I believe God!"
Get out of your comfort zone!

We're living in perilous times, but God is still looking for risk-takers - now, today!

• In the parable of the talents, the one who refused to take the risk with his talent was called an "evil servant."
• Esther said, "If I perish, I perish, but I'm going to see the king." 
• The "Three Hebrew Children" recognized the risks, acknowledged them, and concluded... God is able to deliver us. But if He doesn't, We're still not going to bow down.
• The little boy with the lunch was a risk-taker. He gave up a sure thing, and in giving it to Jesus, watched it become a blessing not only to himself, but also to the entire multitude.

Yes! Risk-taking involves setbacks and problems. But the overcomer steps out in faith onto the promises of God!

A Fool to the World...

By Justin Jeffrey

It is better to be a fool to the world than to be a fool to God.

Those whom God counts as wise must be...

• United with Him - United as in the Body of Christ.
• Belief - one mind (I Corinthians 1:10). 
• Doctrine - one accord (Acts 2:1).
• Love - one Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
• Grudges have no place.
• Envy has no place.
• Our flesh is imprudent (foolish, unwise). Only God is prudent (wise).
• Flesh is foolish - bound to and for the "easy way."
• Following the flesh is folly.
• Fight the flesh - crucify, mortify, prune, purge.
• Flesh gets swallowed up in pride, self-will (me, my, mine).
• You're not perfect - Only God is perfect! - Once you realize that, you can move forward.
• "To Be Like Jesus" is the goal.
• God's Word says to love God more than the world and the things of the world. (I John 2:15-17; I Corinthians 1:26-31).
• We like to be thought of as strong and wise, but the world's wisdom and strength is foolishness with God.
• Our job (goal) is for our flesh to decrease so He can increase. We need to make room for Him to grow in us, filling us with His wisdom and strength.
• Learn how to love like Jesus loves.
• Stop judging! That's not our job!
• God can save anybody - and - He can use anybody!

Editor's Note: Justin serves as New Life's youth leader and is a blessing to our sound department, A willing worker, his faithfulness in multiple avenues of service mark him as a godly example in word and deed. We're proud of you, Justin!

Pride

By Donna Franklin

Hidden in secret places,
where only God can see,
The killer sin lies silent,
destroying humility.

Lurking in the shadows,
rebellion and self-will
Crouch and plot destruction
as haughty spirits thrill.

Hearts filled with pride,
Eyes full of lust,

and imaginations vain.

 

Pride grows when fed on boasting,

Giving only self all praise.
The "I" gets ever bigger;
God's no longer in their ways.
The answer? If His people,
Those called by Jesus' Name,
Will humble themselves, pray, repent,
faces covered with shame;
God's promised He will hear,
forgive,
and restore our land again.

 

 

Editor's Note: Donna Franklin writes as the Spirit moves on her. Author of a number of poems and articles, she is a faithful saint in the Paoli United Pentecostal Church (Paoli, Oklahoma - Pastor Terry Erwin).

What Do You Do...?

By Scott Philips

What Do You Do When No One Else Will Be the Hero?

Picture with me young David with a bag of bread and a block of cheese. He walks into the camp of Israel and when confrontation comes, there was no hero in Israel.

He came to see a fight, but all he found was fear. He came to see how the battle was going and what he found was a cowering army and the king hiding in his tent. He had hoped to see a hero win the day. But there was no hero to be found.

There will come a time in your life when no one else will be your hero. Victory in your life will not be measured by a praying church or an anointed preacher, but the outcome of the day will rest on your shoulders and your faith... when the only possible hero is the one looking at you in the mirror.

There was a day when the storm had been raging for hours. All those on the boat had prayed to their gods but the storm got no better. Then someone ventured over to Jonah and said, "Wake up and call on your God."

Everyone on the boat reached in their bag of faith and found nothing. But they saw a man who was asleep. Jonah knew the answer to that storm. He had the solution. "Put me in the water." The Bible "Aquaman." And so, with a heave ho, they tossed him into the brink and immediately... peace. The storm was gone and all danger passed. As Jonah went down into the deep, a great fish came and swallowed him down into its belly. That fish took him down to a deep, dark place, but what came out of that place was a hero.

There comes a time when the only place deliverance will come from is you. To quote Larry Boy from the Veggie Tales, here's something we need to say on the day when no hero is to be found... "I am that hero." Joseph had to say it. David had to say it. Esther had to say it. Daniel had to say it, and so did the three Hebrew boys. When it's time for you to take a stand, just remember... you don't go in your own strength... Like David, you come in the Name of the Lord!

Editor's Note: Scott A. Philips is the pastor of New Birth Church in Clinton, Mississippi. A prolific writer who maintains a blogsite relative to his ministry, Bro. Philips' ministry reaches far and wide and is a blessing to the Kingdom of God.

Purchased Pretty vs. Timeless Beauty

By Rachel Coltharp

We are made in the image of God. We, His creation, love beauty. We long for it. We need it. But like all needs, the need for beauty can be twisted to our hurt.

The warped world we live in has taken this need for beauty and turned it into something ugly. Instead of encouraging us to become beautiful through growth, through the practice of the spiritual disciplines, it tells us that we can BUY beauty. We see it in the new in advertisement papers and compare it to last year's new in our closet, and it tells us that we need... We see it in the faux flawless faces and the airbrushed altered bodies on the billboards, and in the face in the mirror cannot compare.

You need this product... [and you'll need a new one tomorrow]
You need this look... [and there will be a new one next season]
You need this thing... [and it will wear out, or go out of style soon]

And the ugly truth behind the lie is that you will wear yourself out running after purchased pretty. Don't let the things that make you beautiful be things on the outside, like the way you arrange your hair, or the clothing you wear. Make sure that your beauty comes from inside you, the unfading beauty of a gentle, quieted spirit, which is highly valued in God's sight. (I Peter 3:3)

This is not saying "Don't wear beautiful things" - it is saying, "Don't let what makes you beautiful be things."

Real beauty can't be bought. It's not in a tube or on a hanger. You can't arrange it, not with a braid, or a pin curl, or with a brush. You can't wear it, you have to grow it.

Fashion fades. Bodies age. But real beauty is a treasure all can afford, and none outgrow.

Editorial Note: Rachel is the wife of Brent Coltharp, pastor of  First Apostolic Church in Aurora, Illinois. Homeschooling mother of four, she writes, speaks, and sings about the goodness of the Lord and the joy of walking with Him.

But God...!

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (I Corinthians 6:9-11)

What a litany! Sin, like fractions, seeks the lowest common denominator. It weighs you down, It drags you down. It matters little whether one is guilty of one sin or the whole list, a corrupt tree can only bear corrupt fruit. It's destiny is bound up in it's corruptness. The thing many simply refuse to acknowledge is that one sin is enough to receive sin's penalty, (wages,) which is death! Most of us are guilty of way more than just one. Since you can only die once before facing eternity, how in the world can one person pay the penalty for multiple sins? Of course, the answer is... it's impossible... and that leaves us in an awful mess! But God! It's in the midst of this dither, this heavy load of condemnation, that Jesus comes, bringing hope and salvation!

"And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked acccording to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:1-7)

John said, "God so loved... that He gave..." Our sins branded us as ruined, worthless. But God's plan was a sinless substitute, Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world! Under the law, the blood of bulls and goats could only roll man's sins ahead another year, But God, knowing the need, was already pointing the way to Calvary and the sinless, spotless sacrifice that would once and for all cover all sin - backward to the dawn of man's existence and forward to eternity. Isaiah saw how the heart of God yearned to reconcile sinful man to Himself... "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil... Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:16, 18)

No matter how bad it was... no matter how low... no matter how far... But God, who is rich in mercy and grace is still reaching. Repentance and remission of sins is the way He chose for us to come to Him. (See Acts 2:37-38; 3:19; 22:16.) Based on John 3 and I John 5, G.T. Haywood penned these words...

"In sin I wandered sore and sad,
With bleeding heart and aching head;
Til Jesus came and sweetly said,
'I'll take your sins away!'

I gave my heart, my life, my all,
To Him who drank the cup of gall,
In saving sinners from the fall
And took their sins away.

The Water, Spirit, and the Blood
Agree if we but understood,
In making sinners pure and good,
And take our sins away.

Thank God for the Blood!
Thank God for the cleansing flood!
Thank God for the Blood!
It washes white as snow!"