How to bring them to Christ

I saw a title exactly like this for a book, at a Christian book store. (How to bring them to Christ, R. A. Torrey) It sort of puzzled me because there was already a book out on the market that has told everything that you could think about to bring people to Christ, and that is the Bible. No another thing that puzzled me was thinking that we, ourselves, could be able to bring people to Christ and what we can learn to help in bring more people to Christ.

I would hope that everyone would know that they can’t bring people to Christ in their own strength, in their own way of doing things, or even in their own timing. But sometimes I even fall into one of those categories and start thinking of how I can do this, or I can do that well.  In 1 Corinthians 3:4-9 it says “4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

Paul explains to everyone that what Apollos and himself did was exactly what God wanted and used those things to help bring some one to Himself.  Paul planted, sharing the gospel and Christ crucified, which was necessary in getting someone to the point of accepting Christ, but he didn’t change their hearts to accept Christ, only God did.  Apollos watered, shared more knowledge from the word of God, which was necessary to help someone learn more things about who Christ was, but he didn’t change their hearts to accept Christ either, only God did.  Paul pretty much told everyone that he did a little, and Apollos came along and did a little bit more, but God was the only one that brought anyone to Christ.

Lets remember that we do play a part in someone coming to Christ, because God uses us for His glory and He is the only one that can be able to change some one’s heart to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

 

Next generation SUH

Everyone knows how good SUH is, and now everyone is getting the chance to see just how good Crick is; right now and in the future.  The Baylor game was Cricks coming out party and I thought these two posts summed up a lot of what is needed to be said about Crick.

 

BEAM

Biblical

Educational

And

Ministry

This is what I was trying to get at. . . . . . . . .

 

1 or 2 words

A friend of mine here in South Africa sent me an “SMS” (text) and asked this quesitons: If you could sum up Beam in one or two words what would you say?  I thought for a few moments and these are a few of what I came up with:

Helping hand // Blessing // Guidance // Support // For others // Open hand // Light // Strong work // Strength // Care //

If any of you, who have been to BEAM before, want to add to this, be my guest!

 

Somethings I won’t miss about South Africa

1) Siren’s going off every 5 minutes

2) Car alarms going off every 5 minutes

3) Capped or (usage of space) for Internet

4) gated or fenced enclosures everywhere

5) “How’s it”

6) Few and far between bathrooms

7) No heat/air conditioners

No Dr. Pepper

9) No carpet

10) car guards

11) No ESPN (only on DSTV and not really American sports)

12) No Burger King

13) PNP (pick-n-pay) and little to no service

14) Driving on the right side of the car, on the left side of the street

15) Girls screaming in the apartments

16) Opening and closing a gate

17) people honking when they can’t open a gate

18) People flashing brights when they want to pass

19) Assuming that all white people speak Afrikaans

20) People drive for themselves and not thing of anyone else

21) Small sized appliances

22) Small housing/apartments (suited for only one person, but have crammed two)

23) People just not knowing how to drive anywhere, especially on the highway

24) People saying they will do one thing and agreeing with you, and then not showing up or allowing you to get a hold of them (just be honest, its ok!)

25) Not being able to be close to my family and friends or even talk to them (but I could get over that if God called me to full time ministry…)

 

Where are we at now?

I thought this was thought provoking and an interesting read. Not sure who wrote it, as I received it in an email and can’t find the original source. It does seem true with what has happened with other countries in different centuries and how we have somewhat followed this pattern pretty close to the exact line of what it says for the sequence. I am definitely blessed to be living in such a great country as America, but there are just some things that we are doing right now that is pretty much killing us economically and spiritually.  How far have we fallen? That is the question that  I want to ask, and why has so many people forgotten where we came from and what our constitution is grounded upon?  We all need to shape up, or we will get shipped out, to places I’m sure we don’t want to be.  Here are a few other guys posts on the subject.

How Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage”

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:  Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million–Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000–States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29–Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Gore’s territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…”

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the “complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

realize just how much is at stake, apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

 

All about the water

Here are the final things that Water can do.  I am sure that there are plenty more and you can’t stop needing water for something, so keep drinking!

Cure #1: Dump the Tums and cure heartburn. Heartburn may be a signal of water shortage in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a major thirst signal of the human body. The use of antacids or tablet medications in the treatment of this pain does not correct dehydration, and the body continues to suffer as a result of its water shortage. Tragedy: Not recognizing heartburn as a sign of dehydration and treating it with antacids and pill medications will, in time, produce inflammation of the stomach and duodenum, hiatal hernia, ulceration, and eventually cancers in the gastrointestinal tract, including the liver and pancreas.

Cure #3: Back pain. Low Back Pain and Ankylosing Arthritis of the Spine may be signs of water shortage in the spinal column and discs – the spinal cushions that support the weight of the body. These conditions should be treated with increased water intake – not a commercial treatment, but a very effective one. Tragedy: Not recognizing arthritis and low back pain as signs of dehydration in the joint cavities and treating them with pain-killers, manipulation, acupuncture, and eventually surgery will, in time, produce osteoarthritis when the cartilage cells in the joints have eventually all died. It will produce deformity of the spine. It will produce crippling deformities of the limbs. Pain medications have their own life-threatening complications.

Cure #8: High blood pressure. Hypertension is a state of adaptation of the body to a generalized drought when there is not enough water to fill all the blood vessels which diffuse water into vital cells. As part of the mechanism of reverse osmosis, when water from the serum is filtered and injected into important cells through minute holes in their membranes, extra pressure is needed for the “injection process.” Just as we inject I.V. “water” in hospitals, so the body injects water into tens of trillions of cells all at the same time. Water intake will bring blood pressure back to normal! Tragedy: Not recognizing hypertension as one of the major indicators of dehydration in the human body, and treating it with diuretics that further dehydrate the body will, in time, cause blockage by cholesterol of the heart arteries and the arteries that go to the brain. It will cause heart attacks and small or massive strokes that paralyze. It will eventually cause kidney diseases. It will cause brain damage and neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Cure #9: Adult-onset diabetes. Adult-Onset Diabetes is another adaptive state to severe dehydration of the human body. To have adequate water in circulation and for the brain’s priority water needs, the release of insulin is inhibited to prevent insulin from pushing water into all body cells. In diabetes only some cells get survival rations of water. Water will reverse adult-onset diabetes in its early stages. Tragedy: Not recognizing adult-onset diabetes as a complication of dehydration may, in time, cause massive damage to the blood vessels all over the body. It may cause eventual loss of the toes, feet and legs from gangrene. It may cause eye damage, even blindness.

The point is, it WILL improve your health, it IS free, and it IS the right thing to do. And as long as you don’t ignore your doctor’s advice (which by the way is to drink 8-10 8oz glasses of water per day) there is absolutely no risk. No risk, no cost, no travel, definite improvements.

So what are you waiting on?

Drink up!

 

What’s going to happen next Huskers?

I don’t really have much to say on this topic, but I thought these two posts by Tom Shatel and Steve Sipple were good enough to say what I wanted to.

 

Prayer

“If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word- Prayer. Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell.” Spurgeon

It is so true, because that is one of the main ways we talk and communicate to God.  If we are without that connection to God Most High, then we will start to depend on our abilities and thoughts, which is not a good tactic in this life.  Continue to trust in Him and ask for everything that you know you are lacking, not just money and happiness, but for a better knowledge of Christ and a stronger love for Him.

Prayer is not getting something FROM God; it’s doing something WITH God. The challenge is to develop a prayer life that is more about God than you  A helpful way to do this:

Pray “Father, I adore you…” Finish the phrase with reasons we have to adore God.

Pray “Jesus, I love you…” Finish with reasons we have to love Jesus.

Pray “Spirit, I need you…” Finish with reasons we need the Holy Spirit.

(taken from Judy Brower)

Pray about who God is, and what He means to your life. Pray for Jesus to cleanse the sinful parts of your body and your thoughts and mouth; pray that Jesus would show you more of your sin and help in giving you new parts and a new spirit. Pray for wisdom and guidance so that you can be able to live your life for God in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray not only for yourself, but also pray for others. Pray for Salvation for those that don’t know Christ; pray for those that are Christians but are not living their lives for Christ, that they would see their sin and turn from it; pray for strength to those that are Christians, that they would live and work through the power of the Holy Spirit. And then pray for specific prayer requests as well. There can never be enough praying, and God will never have a full capacity, that would not allow Him to receive anymore prayers, He is always open for them and willing to listen.

 

Oh me and the law

I could probably write a book about the different experiences that I have had with law enforcement over the past 10 or so years, but I won’t.  I will explain what happened to me the last night that myself and James would probably be in Jo-Burg for a while.  I did not get arrested, I did forget my license, and we did switch drivers and got away without any hassle.

To start off, I went for a run today at the Sports complex that is on the other side of Duncan (i.e. street name in Pretoria) and decided to put all of my pocket items in my bag, one of which was my wallet that I put in my side compartment, for some reason that I can’t figure out right now.  Came home after a good run and taking some pictures around the complex, and got ready to head to Jo-Burg for a night with a couple of friends that went to school at the University of Johannesburg, Lerato and Balokile. As we got into the car and started to drive out of our apartment, I stated that I forgot my wallet (and so my license), but it was OK cause I had money in my pocket and the police never really do anything anyways around here, from what I had seen.

The end of the night we were dropping the guys off at their homes and ran into a road block.  I rolled down the window and she asked if I had my license. I looked at James, either thinking he could do something magical or that we had just talked about this earlier in the evening, I looked back at the officer and said I didn’t have it.  She went through a great long spiel about “if you get into a car you should have your license… before you put the key in the ignition you should have your license…” which was all true, but sort of funny.  Then she asked if I drank at all tonight, and I told here nothing but water.  So, I pulled over to the side of the road (which was in a suburb part of Jo-Burg), after hearing I might need to get breathalyzed, and waited for what was to happen.  Myself and James, mostly James, told her what we were doing and who we were, where we were from, that sort of thing. James said that he could drive and she right away said “why don’t you drive, since you have the license.” That was a great deal for us and she let a go.  It was definitely the grace of God that nothing else happened and for her being so gracious to us in just letting us go. I could have been close to jail in two countries, not just one.