1 Corinthians 16:15, 16
I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.
Are you addicted to the ministry of the saints?
What a great way to describe the ‘house of Stephanas’.
This will require a greater level of commitment on our part but very rewarding.
We need one another and would be great if more of us could be described this way.
Bisi Oladipupo
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Our God Given Navigation System
Do you enjoy the satellite navigation system in your car?
Satellite navigation systems have the capability to show us trouble traffic spots so we can avoid them. The Stat Nav helps us foresee trouble and gives us the choice to avoid traffic and problems on our journeys.
As we journey through life, there are many decisions that need to be made. Who do l marry? What job should l take? Which church should l attend? I know the Lord has called me, but when do l step out? Which school should l let my children attend? and many other issues. Taking the wrong turn in any of these areas can cause us many problems.
As children of God we have our own spiritual navigation system that helps us avoid trouble and problems in these areas. The reality is that no one has passed this road before and we need help. Just as the satellite navigation system helps us in our road journeys, so has the Lord given us our own spiritual navigation system to help in our journey of life.
Proverbs 22: 3 says, a prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. So how do we foresee evil or the wrong way to go as children of God.
Lets have a look at some of our navigation systems:
The word of God:
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Wise counsel
Proverbs 11:14b in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
By listening to the Holy Spirit given to us
John 16: 13, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
We need to obey those promptings we receive in our spirits and obey them.
By asking the Lord for direction and trusting Him
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
We do not need to get stuck in the issues of life once we engage our spiritual navigation systems.
Lets take advantage of what the Lord has given us to navigate safely through life.
Bisi Oladipupo
Satellite navigation systems have the capability to show us trouble traffic spots so we can avoid them. The Stat Nav helps us foresee trouble and gives us the choice to avoid traffic and problems on our journeys.
As we journey through life, there are many decisions that need to be made. Who do l marry? What job should l take? Which church should l attend? I know the Lord has called me, but when do l step out? Which school should l let my children attend? and many other issues. Taking the wrong turn in any of these areas can cause us many problems.
As children of God we have our own spiritual navigation system that helps us avoid trouble and problems in these areas. The reality is that no one has passed this road before and we need help. Just as the satellite navigation system helps us in our road journeys, so has the Lord given us our own spiritual navigation system to help in our journey of life.
Proverbs 22: 3 says, a prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. So how do we foresee evil or the wrong way to go as children of God.
Lets have a look at some of our navigation systems:
The word of God:
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Wise counsel
Proverbs 11:14b in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
By listening to the Holy Spirit given to us
John 16: 13, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
We need to obey those promptings we receive in our spirits and obey them.
By asking the Lord for direction and trusting Him
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
We do not need to get stuck in the issues of life once we engage our spiritual navigation systems.
Lets take advantage of what the Lord has given us to navigate safely through life.
Bisi Oladipupo
Saturday 2 October 2010
Lessons from My Father: The Preacher (Billy Graham)
By the Reverend Franklin Graham,
Interview by Amy Levin-Epstein, Best Life
My father became very close with the Nixons. He was fairly close with John F. Kennedy. After the Watergate era, however, he said, “I’m not going to say anything to a politician again unless it’s of a spiritual nature. I’m not going to talk with them about political issues, about international issues. I’m just going to keep my mouth shut and speak to them about things that affect their hearts.” I’ve watched him my whole life. He is my example. My father doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. If someone hurts him or disappoints him, my father just forgives the person and moves on. I think that’s what love is all about.
There’s no book to teach you. My father told me you learn how to preach by preaching. The only way you’re going to learn it is to go out there and do it and learn from your mistakes. And he’s right.
I saw that he was wary of politicians. They thought, If we get close to Billy Graham, that will influence votes. My father tries to use his position in a spiritual context.
He taught me that there is a devil in this world. There are spiritual powers at work against God. Why do we have bars on the windows? Why do we have to have police forces? Why do we have a judicial system? It’s because of the evil in this world. Everything he taught, he taught us through the Scripture.
I never saw my parents fight. Never really saw them argue. My mother was a soul mate to him. They did everything together. My father treated my mother with the utmost respect. He honored her. I have a friend–we’re about the same age–who loses his temper and yells at his wife, and he cusses at her from time to time, and guess what? His children do exactly the same thing.
My father is careful with women. He would not even ride in the same car with a woman other than my mother. I remember in Little Rock, Hillary Clinton, when she was the wife of Governor Clinton, wanted to meet my father for lunch. She wanted to have a private conversation. Daddy said, “I’d be glad to meet you, but we’ll meet in a public place.” My father told me, “I’m going to be above reproach and not allow myself ever to be accused of something that wasn’t morally right.”
He was gone for a long time when I was young. One time, he was gone for about six months. My father started his ministry right after World War II, when men had been gone for four or five years to defend the freedom of this nation. He felt, Should I do less for the sake of the cross? He later told me, “Son, if I had to do this over again, I wouldn’t have been gone that long.” When I’m through with my work, I go back home.
Life is a circle. When you are small, your relationship with your parents is one thing, and then you get to be an adult and they start treating you like an adult. And then when you are older, the roles reverse. Instead of the parents providing for the children, now we as children are helping to provide for our parents.
God did not give us religion. Religion is man’s attempt to reach a holy God.
He knows how to stay on message. All these years, he has been faithful to what he feels God called him to do, and that is to preach this wonderful good news, this Gospel, that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He rose again, and if we would confess our sins to God and ask for His forgiveness and turn from those sins and invite Christ by faith into our hearts and into our lives, that God would forgive us.
The Reverend Franklin Graham, 56, runs the organization his father founded. The fourth of five children born to evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, Franklin has been a Christian evangelist and missionary from the age of 23. Since 2000, he has served as CEO, and since 2002 as president, of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. His father, one of most celebrated and well-loved preachers in American history, has counseled U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to George W. Bush.
From msn fathers day special http://specials.msn.com/Network/fathersday08.aspx?GT1=34008
Interview by Amy Levin-Epstein, Best Life
My father became very close with the Nixons. He was fairly close with John F. Kennedy. After the Watergate era, however, he said, “I’m not going to say anything to a politician again unless it’s of a spiritual nature. I’m not going to talk with them about political issues, about international issues. I’m just going to keep my mouth shut and speak to them about things that affect their hearts.” I’ve watched him my whole life. He is my example. My father doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. If someone hurts him or disappoints him, my father just forgives the person and moves on. I think that’s what love is all about.
There’s no book to teach you. My father told me you learn how to preach by preaching. The only way you’re going to learn it is to go out there and do it and learn from your mistakes. And he’s right.
I saw that he was wary of politicians. They thought, If we get close to Billy Graham, that will influence votes. My father tries to use his position in a spiritual context.
He taught me that there is a devil in this world. There are spiritual powers at work against God. Why do we have bars on the windows? Why do we have to have police forces? Why do we have a judicial system? It’s because of the evil in this world. Everything he taught, he taught us through the Scripture.
I never saw my parents fight. Never really saw them argue. My mother was a soul mate to him. They did everything together. My father treated my mother with the utmost respect. He honored her. I have a friend–we’re about the same age–who loses his temper and yells at his wife, and he cusses at her from time to time, and guess what? His children do exactly the same thing.
My father is careful with women. He would not even ride in the same car with a woman other than my mother. I remember in Little Rock, Hillary Clinton, when she was the wife of Governor Clinton, wanted to meet my father for lunch. She wanted to have a private conversation. Daddy said, “I’d be glad to meet you, but we’ll meet in a public place.” My father told me, “I’m going to be above reproach and not allow myself ever to be accused of something that wasn’t morally right.”
He was gone for a long time when I was young. One time, he was gone for about six months. My father started his ministry right after World War II, when men had been gone for four or five years to defend the freedom of this nation. He felt, Should I do less for the sake of the cross? He later told me, “Son, if I had to do this over again, I wouldn’t have been gone that long.” When I’m through with my work, I go back home.
Life is a circle. When you are small, your relationship with your parents is one thing, and then you get to be an adult and they start treating you like an adult. And then when you are older, the roles reverse. Instead of the parents providing for the children, now we as children are helping to provide for our parents.
God did not give us religion. Religion is man’s attempt to reach a holy God.
He knows how to stay on message. All these years, he has been faithful to what he feels God called him to do, and that is to preach this wonderful good news, this Gospel, that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He rose again, and if we would confess our sins to God and ask for His forgiveness and turn from those sins and invite Christ by faith into our hearts and into our lives, that God would forgive us.
The Reverend Franklin Graham, 56, runs the organization his father founded. The fourth of five children born to evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, Franklin has been a Christian evangelist and missionary from the age of 23. Since 2000, he has served as CEO, and since 2002 as president, of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. His father, one of most celebrated and well-loved preachers in American history, has counseled U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to George W. Bush.
From msn fathers day special http://specials.msn.com/Network/fathersday08.aspx?GT1=34008
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