Passion 4 Him

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”, Philippians 2:10-11 All rational beings will acknowledge Christ as Lord. Philippians 2:10-11 affirms that the whole intelligent universe is called to worship Christ. They are specified as those “in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth” (v. 10). “Those who are in heaven” consist of two groups: God’s holy angels and the spirits of the redeemed believers (who await the resurrection of their bodies). Those who are in Heaven already acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Throughout their ...

~~Christmastime is upon us. In a few short days, many of us will find ourselves in a home filled with family members and friends, some of whom we see often, and some of whom we see rather seldom. It will be a time of reunion, reconciliation, catching up, and sharing stories. In many cases, it will provide multiple opportunities to bear witness to the Gospel before the people we care most about. But precisely because we care most about them, it can often be difficult to have those conversations. We still may fear our family members’ evaluation of us, especially if they’re our parents. We don’t enjoy being thought of as strange, naïve, or narrow-minded by those whom we care most about. Maybe the last time we tried evangelizing them it didn’t go so well, and we don’t want to strike any raw nerves. It could even be that our pride and self-focus has dampened our affections for Christ’s glory an...

I have been reading a book called: "Understanding our Calling and Work- On Being a Pastor" by Derek Prime and Alistair Begg. This is a great resource for anyone in the ministry. I wanted to highlight some great quotes from the book here. "We may not always be aware at first as to whether God's call is to give all or part of our time to shepherding and teaching-for there is a place for both. That ought not to be a major preoccupation, in that such uncertainty simply indicates that the time is not yet right for action. At the appropriate stage, God will make it plain." (pg. 24) "The preacher's gift proves its value to the body of Christ as his character demonstrates the truth of what he declares."  (pg. 37) "Shepherds and teachers are for churches, not churches for shepherds and teachers. Churches do not exist for our benefit or for our livelihood. We exist rather for their good." (pg. 47) "Every time we teach, it is appropri...

Excerpted from  Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny  —  by Dave Hunt We have tried to be fair in our citing of much scientific evidence refuting atheism, materialism, and evolution. These three fit hand-in-glove with one another and really constitute a rival religion to theism. We have shown that in spite of much effort on the part of their loyal adherents, they still lack convincing scientific evidence and must be taken by faith. Arguments of a purely scientific nature could continue, but these alone would still leave the two sides far apart and with differences unresolved. There can be no argument, however, with clearly stated biblical prophecies or with the history recording their fulfillment. Atheists know that they must destroy the Bible, and they have been attempting to do so for many years. Biblical Christianity, with the virgin birth, sinless life, death on a Roman cross, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel and the worl...

As we noted in part one of this series, everyone wants to improve himself or herself, whether it’s one’s situation, condition, image or whatever else people feel would make them happier. The world has conjured up a host of approaches in attempting to accomplish that goal, but its successes are rare and, at best, short-lived.The biblical approach, on the other hand, has, as its objective, temporal improvement and eternal outcomes. In His Scriptures, God has given mankind instructions that will vastly improve one’s condition on earth as well as prepare us for eternal rewards to come. As our Creator, God alone knows every aspect of every human being, from the most minute part of our physical bodies to every thought our mind thinks. In other words, there is nothing that God doesn’t know about us. Therefore, as we deal with situations and circumstances that come our way, we can’t do better than to turn to the One who knows us best.According to the Manufacturer’s Handbook (the Bib...

January 2-4, 2014 www.contend2014.com Bring a Group or Just Bring Your Own Student Point of Action: We just dropped 26,000 pieces of mail to get the word out about this free conference. But I also need your help in getting out the word. Will you e-mail this letter to your family and friends? Will you post the information on your Facebook page or tweet out the URL: www.contend2014 and let everyone know it is free as a ministry of www.worldviewweekendfoundation.com As a parent or grandparent would you like the opportunity to bring the high school or college students in your family to a Biblical worldview conference that is specifically for them? Have you ever thought about sending your student to a worldview camp but the $1,400 or more in tuition, plus transportation, was a barrier? Colossians 2:8 tells us to: Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according...

The most terrifying words any professing Christian could ever hear would be the irreversible words of our Lord Jesus Christ, "Depart from Me, I never knew you" (Mat. 7:23). Tragically, Jesus will turn away "many" who call Him Lord on judgment day. They are people who may have been loyal to their denomination, who did mighty works and prophesied in His name, yet they will be unqualified to enter into heaven (Mat. 7:21-23). The phrase "Depart from Me" is the final sentence to hell as noted when Jesus uses it again in Mat. 25:41. He declares: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." You would think this unexpected and horrifying judgment would cause Christians to wonder who these people are and, if in fact, they could be one of them. Some would dismiss any idea that the warning applies to them because they know they believe in Jesus. But how do they know their faith is genuine?  ...

Beyond just testifying to the truth there's counting the cost by Dan Schaeffer When we hear the word  witness , we often think of sharing our testimony. However, the meaning goes deeper than that and has its roots in the Old Testament. A witness is one who would be called to testify to an event at which he or she was present—although technically, a witness can even be a pile of stones. One of the most famous lines from a hymn goes, “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” An Ebenezer (literally, “stone of help”) was a stone monument erected as a witness to something God had done for the people of Israel ( 1 Sam. 7:12 ). In Old Testament times, a witness was essential to the law, especially in criminal cases. Making an accusation against someone required two witnesses. Furthermore, when a convicted criminal was sentenced to death on the testimony of witnesses, those witnesses had to throw the first stones. This proved they were resolute about their testimony. Since being...

“You have left your first love.” - Revelation 2:4 A wise person loves Christ supremely. Because the days were evil, the apostle Paul wanted the church at Ephesus to make the most of their time and walk wisely ( Eph. 5:15-16 ). A little more than thirty years after Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesian church, the apostle John wrote more to them, saying, “You have left your first love. . . . Repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I [Christ] am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent” ( Rev. 2:4-5 ). But the Ephesians did not repent, and the lampstand was removed. Their time was shorter than they believed...

Free Download here: http://humblebeast.com/downloads/sate... LYRICS: (Josh Garrels) Anchor of my soul you sustain, when I'm in the storm you remain. Good to me, good to me (Braille) When it's a quarter past midnight, and the grey skies fade to black. The waves splash and set me off track. So my vessel might crash or collapse, when I'm attacked. And start wrestling in my head with these bad memories from my past. I'm aware of my guilt, overwhelmed and the smell of my blood has the sharks that surround me cast under a spell. They waited for me to fall but when I fell the water got still. And the blood that was spilled protects me, it's the same blood that cleansed me. My only defense against my nemesis, now I can rest knowing that nothing can come against me unless the Father gives consent. Evil intentions will not disturb God's purposes or interfere so, who shall I fear if my Anchor is secure? Learning to consider it pure joy when I'm ...

By Bill Busshaus Most of us have seen the movie “Chariots of Fire” and have been greatly encouraged by the example of Eric Liddell who refused to compete in races on Sunday. But if a Christian held a different position regarding what is allowed on Sunday, could that believer be just as dedicated to Christ with his differing opinion? Convictions of personal conscience are those areas where a strict absolute is not laid down for us in the Bible. Having such personal convictions does not mean you cannot make a biblical argument for your position, however. Take for example one of the issues in Romans 14—personal diet. One person could argue for eating vegetables only from Genesis 1:29, stating that eating vegatables was God’s will from the beginning. Others could make a case for eating meat from God’s instruction to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:1-4. Still others could argue for a “kosher” diet from later revelation in the Mosaic Law ...