Phillipians 1 Are you worthy of the gospel?

Worthy of the Gospel

27Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. 29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, 30since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.


Do you, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ? I believe we all fail at this in one time or another. Someone at church needs to talk to you but you're in a hurry. Someone asks for prayer but you fail to pray at that specific moment.
Brethren pray and ask God to allow us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel at all times.
Pray that we stand firm in one spirit  contending side by side for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.

Ecclesiastes 4:12New International Version (NIV)
12
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Those that oppose you; "This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God." Saul opposed the Way, putting those in prison and to death. But Jesus knocked on his door and called him to salvation. Saul who became Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament. God desires all to come to Him, even those who oppose!

Most Christians find this hard to grasp: "29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him,".
Suffer for Him? Don't others preach all will be roses once you believe?
Brethren we live in a lost and dying world with Satan as its head, we will all suffer, the question is WHEN, but isn't it better to suffer with Jesus that suffering without Him?

Blessings, David

Pray and speak the words of salvation!

Eph6:19 And pray for me, that words may be given to me when I open my
mouth, to proclaim boldly the mystery of the good news [of salvation], 20
for which I am an ambassador in chains. And pray that in proclaiming it I
may speak boldly and courageously, as I should.

There are many words that we speak everyday, some glorify God and some are

words that have no eternal value. The most important words that we can

speak are those about the good news of salvation in and through the Lord

Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul asked others to pray for Him, specifically

that words would be given to him, to boldly proclaim the mystery of the

good news of salvation. I am praying this for all of God's people and ask

that you all pray for me as well. Dear Heavenly Father, please give all of

Your children boldness to courageously speak the words of salvation, remove

fear and doubt, open the unbelieving peoples hearts and bring a revival to

our world, through Your faithful children, in the Lord Jesus' name, amen.

Douglas 

Miracle Grow. 2 Peter 1:2-9

2 Peter 1:2-9

2  God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

Growing in Faith

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

It all starts with faith. We accept God's free gift of salvation. We dedicate our lives to serving Jesus. Because we love Him, we want to do what pleases Him. We begin to study our Bible, God's love letters to us. We gain knowledge of how God wants us to live, the moral standards He set. We learn of the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We practice them, we incorporate them into our daily life and we grow. We grow in faith. We grow in moral excellence, we grow in knowledge and we grow in each of the fruits of His Spirit. We grow in love and joy and peace and patience. We grow in kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness. We grow in self control. If we aren't growing and producing these fruits, we are blind to the truth of His love and only fooling ourselves. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Phillipians 1 Is your fruit 🍉 repulsing or attracting?

25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that through my coming to you again, your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me.


Who is your teacher in Christ Jesus?
And who does your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of?

Brethren, think about these questions for a moment! Are you just floundering in the water of life day by day, doing the breath stroke as you lift your head above the waves? How do you sustain yourself?

Or do you have someone who teaches you daily so you are grounded in the word, so firmly that no matter what life throws at you, no mater how big the waves are, you stand firm in Christ Jesus for your progress and joy in the faith?

I believe the majority of Christians don't take the time to get into the Bible to read the word. You can usually discern who they are by their actions and their fruit. They are the ones giving Christians a bad name, turning away the ungodly from Christianity forever!

I personally know someone that I was trying to bring to Christ but because of the actions of two other Christians and their selfish ambitions, he said if that is what being a Christian is about I want no part of it!

Are you floundering or standing firm? Is you fruit rotting (repulsing) or ripening (attracting) others to Christ?

Blessings, David

Phillipians 1 To live is Christ

20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

Yesterday I sold a Select Comfort mattress that we've had for some years. It's an air bed that you can adjust. I cleaned it before listing it for sale. The gentleman (Steve) who picked it up yesterday has kidney cancer. He's been operated on, chemotherapy and now is  participating in a study at the University of Michigan. He was supposed to only have lived until 2005. He is a born again Christian.
He needed the bed due to his illness and couldn't afford new.
He allowed me to pray for him!

He is living for Christ and is using his cancer and Christian testimony to assist and consul others going through kidney cancer.
For Steve "to live is Christ and to die is gain".
What about you?
Are you using your testimony to bring others to Jesus?

Blessings, David

Don't Cry For Me. 1 Peter 1:3-7

1 Peter 1:3-7 NLT

Hope of Eternal Life

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Have you ever thought about what Heaven will be like? The Bible tells us, through the people who had a glimpse while still on this earth, it is indescribable. No words could express the beauty. No words could justly describe its splendor. 

What will we do when we get there? One thing I am sure of, we will be busy. After we stop gawking at the amazing beauty around us, which could take a while, we can turn out attention to others things, like thanking God for allowing us in! I'm sure, no matter how good of a life we live on earth, we will be humbled God considered us worthy to grace His doorstep! 

Just imagine all the answers to every question we have ever had being answered. That will take some time! And getting to know all those people. What great fellowship we will have! 

Whatever our image of Heaven is now, it's going to be so much more. Although I'm not ready to leave this world, I'll rejoice in the next so when that time comes, don't cry for me. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Are you ready?

1Cor15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast,
immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best
and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor
[even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it
is never without purpose].

Everyday we have opportunities to make a difference for the kingdom of God.

There have been times in my life that I have done what is pleasing to the

Lord Jesus and there have been times when I have failed. I feel that I live

my life on the edge, the edge of right and wrong. There have been many

times that I have been tired and worn, almost to the point of exhaustion.

In 1Corinthians, we are instructed to continue on and know that there is a

purpose in all that we do and all that we go through. Brethren, we must

keep our focus on the things of the Lord and not get caught up in the

distractions of of this world. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh

and the pride of life are dangerous. Jesus is coming back soon, are you

ready?

Douglas