Missing link finally found!!… or not


Scientist have been hailing their latest discovery as the missing link in human evolution which finally will link our ancestry to primates. “Ida” has been dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world by the scientific community. But is this latest fossil really all its cracked up to be in terms its impact on the theory of evolution?

“Scientists Unveil Missing Link In Evolution: Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution. This 95%-complete ‘lemur monkey’ is described as the ‘eighth wonder of the world.’ The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years — but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York. The discovery of the 95%-complete ‘lemur monkey’ — dubbed Ida — is described by experts as the ‘eighth wonder of the world.’ They say its impact on the world of palaeontology will be ‘somewhat like an asteroid falling down to Earth.’ Researchers say proof of this transitional species finally confirms Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the then radical, outlandish ideas he came up with during his time aboard the Beagle. Sir David Attenborough said Darwin ‘would have been thrilled’ to have seen the fossil — and says it tells us who we are and where we came from. ‘This is the one that connects us directly with them’ . . . Now people can say ‘okay we are primates, show us the link . . . The link they would have said up to now is missing — well it’s no longer missing’.”

Look at the words used to describe the find. “the search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years” What?! So upon what have they been building the case for evolution up until now? “the link they would have said up to now is missing — well its no longer missing” So if there were no links between humans and the animal kingdom, how in the world has the theory gained so much steam? Does anyone else see a red flag waving?
Even more telling is the following statement, “This will be the one pictured in the textbooks for the next hundred years,” said Dr Jørn Hurum, the paleontologist from Oslo University’s Natural History Museum who assembled the scientific team to study the fossil. “It tells a part of our evolution that’s been hidden so far. It’s been hidden because the only [other] specimens are so incomplete and so broken there’s nothing almost to study.”

As one man puts it, drop the word “almost” and you have the truth. So the question becomes, “What in the world has the theory been based upon other than imagination and conjecture up until now? And how can I trust the assessment of a group of scientists who have not been forthcoming in the past? How do we know that “Ida” will not quickly become nothing more than another illustraton of how scientists got it wrong?

Here is some more for you to laugh at….”It’s caught at a really very interesting moment [in the animal’s life] when it fortunately has all its baby teeth and is in the process of forming all its permanent teeth,” said Dr Holly Smith, an expert in primate development at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The article goes on to say,”Crucially though, Ida is not on the lemur line because she lacks two key characteristics shared by lemurs – a grooming claw on her second toe and a fused set of teeth called a tooth comb. Also, a bone in her ankle called the talus is shaped like members of our branch of the primates. So the researchers believe she may be on our evolutionary line dating from just after the split with the lemurs.”
So she hasnt formed her teeth yet but she is pulled from the lemur line because she doesnt have fused teeth? What kind of scientists are working on this? These people believe this fossil connects us to primates because of of a similarity an an ankle bone? An ankle bone? And Ida is hailed as the missing link!
If that isnt enough of a smoking gun for you, wait until you hear this from an msnbc report from May 19, 2009. “The fossil was apparently discovered in 1983 by private collectors who split and eventually sold two parts of the skeleton on separate plates: The lesser part was restored and, in the process, partly fabricated to make it look more complete.”
Do I even need to say anything further?
Never be afraid to ask your evolutionist friends for “proof” of the fairy tale they call Evolution. As scientists have unwittingly confessed, there has been none until now, and even what they think they have has been “fabricated”.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Seeing is Believing?

Look at the image to the right. Are the circles moving? Focus on the black dot in the center. Come on, you know they are not moving, but your eyes are deceiving you. You can’t always trust what your eyes are telling you. As a matter of fact, when you look at the sky, your eyes tell you that it is blue, when in truth, as astronauts can confirm, the sky is clear. They don’t have to scrape the blue off the windshield of the shuttle.
When you look at a long, flat road on a hot day, you see water on the roadway, when it is nothing more than an illusion.
These are some of the questions I like to bring up to people who demand that they must physically see God in order to believe he exists. How could they believe it even of they did see it? Maybe it would be a hallucination! Those looking for excuses often will find them, and believe me, anyone who can look at the genius of creation and still profess ignorance concerning God’s existence is inventing excuses.
Even if we cannot see the creator himself, we can conclude with absolute certainty by the vast complexity of things created that he must exist. Romans 1 describes in detail how the biggest problem in the mind of the skeptic is not the lack of evidence for God, but the suppression of it, thereby rendering him without excuse on the day of judgement.
Take the example of Stonehenge. No one is foolish enough to think that these massive stones fell together in order by themselves. No one knows who put them there or how they did it, but we all know that an intelligent mind, or minds, put them in order. You would get laughed out of the scientific and historical communities of you suggested that this were a mere cosmic accident. Yet these are the same people who will look you in the eye, with a straight face, and tell you God does not exist and everything else you see, the balanced order of nature and the universe are the result of time and chance!
Psalms 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.
We don’t have to literally see God to know he exists. The promise of the Bible is that if you will seek him, you will find him. If you will humble yourself before God, repent of your sins and trust the savior, Jesus Christ, then he will manifest himself to you. If you will call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. God will come and live inside of you, and give you a new heart with new desires. Jesus described it as being born again.
He said the wind blows where it wishes, and you can hear the sound of it but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
You can’t physically see the Holy Spirit inside of someone, but you can see the effects. You can’t see wind, but you can see its effects. You see the trees moving and the dust blowing around. When a person becomes a Christian you start seeing the effects of what God is doing in his heart. No one, especially the Christian, can deny a changed heart and a changed life.
You and I may not be able to see God face to face, but we experience the effects of his creative hand in everything we see, hear taste, feel, etc.
Don’t ever be afraid to defend the existence of God. Look around. He is defending it quite well all on his own.

See you on the streets!!

Liberty

Independence Day is a wonderful day of reflection and gratitude for the liberties we enjoy and the benefits of living in this great nation. As we look back on the sacrifices that men and women have made for our country, we are humbled and thankful for their efforts, and now we celebrate our independence as a free nation.
If you are a born again believer in Jesus Christ, you have a reason to celebrate freedom as well. The ten great cannons of the Law of God were once pointed in your direction, and you were held under the curse of the law, with no way of escape, until Jesus Christ fulfilled it on your behalf and then bled and died to pay the penalty for your sins. You were powerless to overcome the strength of sin within you, until you were forgiven of your sins and given the Spirit of God. Then, He proved he had power over sin and death with the ultimate victory of the resurrection.
Now you and I live in a constant state of gratitude, thankfulness, joy, and celebration as we look back on the sacrifice of the Savior, and look forward to the Day of the Lord.
When we stand before the Lord, the Law will have no power over us because our sins have been blotted out. We can have great boldness and assurance in the presence of God because we are covered with the snow-white righteousness of the Son of God. Our names are written in the book, and we have an inheritance in the kingdom because of the death of the Savior.
All glory, power and honor belong to the King, our Lord Jesus Christ!

Portland, OR June 20th

Our time in Portland was a total blast! At first, it looked like we were going to get rained out. As Joel Mattila and I made our way down to Portland from Vancouver, it rained all the way through Vancouver and across the I-5 bridge, and then quit as we entered downtown Portland. We were encouraged to see people hanging around at the Waterfront Park, so we parked and made our way in. The rest of our team was to be arriving shortly, so we set up our ladder, speaker and heckler’s mic and away we went. Here you can see me as I am trying valiantly to gather a crowd on a wet Saturday afternoon.
Our first attempt was rather bleak. I could only muster up a crowd of about 10-15, which dwindled down to about 6 by the time I finished preaching. The Portland PD decided to make an appearance and we had a long discussion with an officer about our rights of free speech and how far we were allowed to take it in our open-air endeavors. The officer had a surprisingly good handle on the law, which can be rare when it comes to exercising free speech. His only concern was that someone could trip over our equipment and we would be liable in that case. So, even though it was not against the law, we decided we would do some pure open-air and go for it without amplification.
A tour-guide boat was just docking up nearby, unloading about two hundred passengers, so I took advantage of the situation and began to gather a crowd. Things went extraordinarily well, as I was able to preach to a good size crowd, including dozens of bystanders who were listening in from a distance. They were very open and receptive to the gospel. It was one of the most fun times of open air that I have had.
The other members of the team showed up just as the people began spilling out of the ship and onto the sidewalks, and they boldly began dishing out tracts. Giselle actually went right to the gates where they came off the ramp and gave a tract to each passenger as they stepped onto the concrete! Giselle lives near Kelowna, B.C., and is also a member of the Ambassador’s Alliance. She shares a passion for soul-winning with Joel, Darren and I and it was a blessing to have her as a part of our team for the day. She is one of the most fearless female evangelists I have worked with.
Darren is a seasoned street evangelist who I have had the pleasure of hitting the streets with on a number of occasions. It is always a blessing to work alongside a brother who comes prepared and loaded for bear. He is great at overcoming fear and stepping into situations that make me nervous, which in turn encourages me to be more bold. Here we found an ideal spot at the Saturday Market where there were lots of people moving about. We were discussing how and where we should set up to preach when all of the sudden we hear this booming voice open up with the gospel. Darren doesn’t mess around. He just jumps right in and goes for it.
The afternoon went by quickly, as it usually does when you are in good company. The rain never did come to ruin our efforts, and many people heard the gospel and received the written word in a tract. Please pray for the city of Portland, which is especially known for being very liberal and full of witchcraft and homosexuality. Pray for more laborers to reach out in this city to those who need the message of salvation. Stay tuned to the website for events coming up in your area that you can be a part of.
www.sowingtheseed.com
See you on the streets!

Another Big Year


As many of you know, this past weekend was the second year we went to the Hoopfest event in Spokane, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in North America. This event fills up Spokane Riverfront Park, as well as 40 city blocks, with over 2,400 teams and 25,000 players, with 175,000 fans! An evangelist’s gold mine! This is by far the largest event of the year for us in the northwest when it comes to street evangelism.
This year, we had a small but effective team. Only myself and a brother named Rick Thursby made the trek from Tri-Cities, but we met up with brothers and sisters from Spokane who also took advantage of this incredible opportunity to get the gospel out. An aquaintence of mine named Ken brought down a team from his church in Spokane, and they spread the word from about 9:00 am till noon. We tried to link up with them, but most of the team had gone home by the time Rick and I made it from our parking lot to the meeting place. It took us over an hour to walk 6 blocks! Of course, we were handing out tracts as we went along, which slowed us down. In 6 city blocks, we handed out over 1000 tracts!
Rick is a faithful brother in Christ who shares a burden for the lost and is committed to bringing the message of salvation to the world. He is active in a local jail ministry where he holds Bible studies twice a week. Rick is an absolute machine on the streets, and proved himself to be an invaluable member of any evangelism team. He fearlessly approached strangers and handed them tracts all day long. When people asked what they were, he was not ashamed to admit that they were gospel tracts. I would estimate that Rick single-handedly forked out probably 2,000 tracts in one day! We left the truck with at least 3,000 tracts, and I know Rick gave out more than I did, because for a good portion of the day, I was setting up for and open-air preaching. Rick was tireless as he stood with his hands full of tracts, offering them to passersby with a pleasant smile, “Did you get one of these?”
A little later in the afternoon, we were joined by Calvin and Debbie Matson, along with their family. As soon as they met up with us, both they and their children were anxious to get started right away. It was encouraging to see their kids taking the bull by the horns and boldly offering tracts to young people and adults. Unfortunately for them, we had long since run out of our most popular tracts, but even those that we had remaining seemed to go quite quickly. We set up and preached once while they were there as well. Here you can see Debbie approaching some strangers with tracts.
Most of the pictures you see here were taken on a side street which we utilized for preaching. We didn’t want to disrupt the flow of foot traffic on the main streets, or we would have certainly been shut down by the authorities, so we found an ideal area where there were still plenty of people to gather a crowd. The tracts went as fast as you can hand them out on the main streets. In fact, by the time we left, we had a meager 40 or so tracts left in our pockets.
There are so many people crowding the streets at this event, it would take a large team and a substantial effort to make a big impact. However, we were very encouraged to have brothers and sisters approach us and tell us they had been seeing people all over the event reading our tracts! I personally had several people tell me they had been looking for us to get their own because the tracts were so cool.
I know that everyone on our team this year had the time of our lives, enjoying fellowship and the fulfillment that only comes from serving the Lord and being used greatly by Him. Maybe next year we will have a few more recruits to join in the festivities. Until then, stay tuned into the website for events coming up in your area where you can be used to reach your community for Christ!
www.sowingtheseed.com

See you on the streets!!

Combine Demolition Derby …. What’s that???


This year marked the 22nd annual Combine Demolition Derby in the small farming town of Lind, in eastern WA. This event attracts crowds of up to 4,000 to the community of about 450 people. Instead of having a demo derby with old cars, they use combines! Yeah, that’s right, combines! What a great opportunity to get the gospel into the hands of lost and dying people!

A fellow evangelist and I took the 1 hour trip into the boonies to the small middle-of-nowhere town to reach out to the people there with the gospel. To my delight, admission into the event was free, and there were people wandering around all over.

We started out handing out tracts, trying to keep a low profile while observing the situation to see what kind of security measures were in place before we became too bold.
At one point, there was a break in the action and the crowds swelled out of the bleachers and to the concession stands, and I saw my opportunity. I quickly ran to our vehicle and grabbed my ladder and amplifier. Then, when I was about to set up in a perfect place, crowd management services personnel came by and scared me off. They had no idea what I was about to do, and did not speak to me, but these were the same people who had shut me down just a few months ago in Tri-Cities at a hockey game.

I chickened out because I didn’t want to get booted too early.
So, I just continued doing what I was doing, handing out tracts to random people.
Then, just before we left, I went up the bleachers, row by row, handing out wads of tracts saying,”Take one, pass them along, please.” You should have seen it! People loved them. I was using the Giant Money tracts. I gave out hundreds of them like that! HA! I was wanting to do it all the while, but I was afraid of getting caught and being booted too soon. But it worked great! I just acted confident like a normal vendor and the security didn’t say a word. Hee hee!
My buddy had great success handing out tracts as well. Marshall is a seasoned veteran of street witnessing who has a passion for contending for the truth of the gospel, especially concerning the cults. He is a valuable asset to any evangelism team. The new Obama Trillions (the bailout bill) are quite a hit, especially in rural America, where he is not exactly adored. Now that I know how big the event is, I will take a bigger team up next year and maybe get a little more bold. I really think the crowd management services were only there for alcohol monitoring. It was a really good atmosphere, so I’m hoping I can contact the organizers and get permission to preach next year.

Please pray for me. I attend a church of about 1000, and the pastors just asked me today to do an 8 week series on evangelism training. I’m really nervous. I have a lot I would like to go over, but I know that I may have to tread lightly to start out. I don’t want to come on too heavy at first.
Also, there is one gentleman in particular who is very aggressively pursuing an alliance with me to combine our ministries, but I don’t know him that well and am a little apprehensive about getting too involved right away. Please pray for me to have wisdom, discernment, and a gentle and loving touch when dealing with him and with my church. Thanks, brothers and sisters!

Next week, we’ll be in Portland hitting the streets, and the following week we’ll be in Spokane. If you can make it to either of these events, contact me. We’ll see you on the streets!

Assurance

I was on my way to work last week, and happened to be praying about some specific things. One of which, was that the Lord would help me not have any more doubts. (Yes, even after 11 yrs of being a believer, I still go through seasons of doubt) I know that when this happens, my doubting actually is a great insult to God. If I doubt him, I am insinuating that he is a liar and His word is not true or worth trusting. So, I was repenting before him and asking that he help me not to go through any more times of doubt.
When I arrived at work, I opened my email and received this message from Todd Friel of Wretched Radio. I took it as an answer to prayer and I am sharing it with you so that if there are any more out there who sometimes succumb to a wave of doubt, you can overcome that doubt by a proper understanding of the grace of God.

Salvation Assurance. Got it?

God wants you to know that you are saved. The entire book of I John was written for that very reason (I John 5:13). Do you have that assurance? Do you know that you are saved? Have you lost the fear of going to hell?
God wants you to walk with Him in confidence. He does not want you in the Slough of Despond. If you are wobbly in your confidence, let’s see if we can get you out of the pit.
This is going to sound radical, but I wonder if you are shaky because of your fear of sinning.
Don’t get me wrong, you and I should be afraid to sin, but the question is, “Why?” While there are several reasons, I suggest there should only be one reason for the believer. If you have been afraid to sin for the wrong reason, perhaps that is why you have no assurance.
There are two wrong reasons for being afraid to sin.
Reason 1: Wrong Theology
Are you afraid to sin because that will demonstrate you are not actually saved? Uh oh. That is wrong. Ponder this carefully.
Your fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) is an excellent sign that you are saved (Galatians 5). While external transformation takes effort, it is relatively attainable. But having a heart change is impossible unless God has saved you.
On the other hand, your sins are only POSSIBLY a sign that you are not saved. Note this well: Christians sin. That’s right, true born again believers will sin (I John). If you sin, that does not prove that you are a false convert.
“But wait,” you say. “Doesn’t the Bible say that if we keep on sinning we are of the devil?”
It sure does, but that is the key: you keep on sinning.
Let’s not sugar coat this, if you are living in willful, unrepentant, persistent sin, you are not saved. You need to repent. Now.
But if you are a man or woman who is growing in holiness (love, joy, peace, etc.) and you are not living in on-going, willful sin, then be assured: you are IN HIM.
You are saved. You have forgiveness of sins. You are adopted into His family. You are His child. You have all of the rights and privileges of an heir. STOP DOUBTING.
“But wait,” you protest. “I don’t want to sin so that grace might more abound.”
That is good, but hear me well: YOU WON’T. If you are in Him, you will not, nor cannot be a grace abuser. Why not? Because you have a new heart and new desires.
Reason 2: Wrong Motive
Perhaps your motive for not sinning is to prove that you are saved. That too is wrong.
What should be your motive for not sinning? It is NOT to prove that you are in Him.
Your fear of sinning should be motivated by your position in and love for Christ. You loathe sin because you are in Him and you do not want to sin against the One you love so profoundly.
Let me demonstrate what I am describing with the Tale of Two Christians.
Doubting Danny
Danny has a born again experience. He can remember when God brought him low and he repented of his sins and trusted Jesus. He reads the Bible every day and his family notices that he is a different person. He has even lost a lot of his old friends because he is “so Christian.” But Danny has doubts.
Danny has mortified his gross sins. The pornography has ceased and the anger is gone…almost. You see, occasionally Danny still gets kind of mad. Not nearly as mad as he used to, but he still finds himself getting annoyed in traffic and short with the kids.
When Danny gets wound up, he recognizes his sin, apologizes to God and then frets that he is not actually saved. His worry ebbs and flows based on how well he is doing.
Assured Alice
Like Danny, Alice has a born again experience. She can remember when God adopted her and she reads the Bible every day. Her family notices that she is different. Alice has no doubts she is saved.
Why not?
Alice used to be a raging gossip who loved her soap operas. Now she hates those things. Unfortunately, Alice will sometimes find herself in a conversation and she will realize that she is spreading gossip. She bridles her tongue, apologizes to God and praises Him that He has rescued her and has given her a new heart. She asks Him to help her not sin again. As the day progresses, she will thank God for His amazing grace toward her, a sinner.
Unfortunately, Alice sins again. While flipping through the channels to find Wretched TV, she lingers for a few seconds on a channel that she promised God she would not watch again. Alice gets mad at herself. Turns off the TV and apologizes to God and thanks Him that He has so graciously saved such a fowl creature. Alice is filled with awe at God’s loving-kindness. She cries.
Alice is resolved to not sin again because she is HEARTBROKEN every time she does. She does not battle sin to prove she is a Christian, but she battles sin simply because she is a Christian who loves to please the Lord with obedience. She knows that when she sins, she has increased the suffering of her Savior and treated Him with contempt, something she hates.
The thought of abusing God’s grace is the furthest thing from Alice’s mind. Let me repeat: the thought of abusing grace is the furthest thing from a Christian’s mind. Grace abuse is the last thing a Christian wants to do. Let me beat that horse. Not only will Christians not abuse grace; they won’t even want to abuse grace.
Our motive for not sinning should not be to prove we are not a false convert, but because we stand in awe of His grace.
Look to the cross, rejoice in your Savior. Do not fear. You will not abuse His grace as you walk this way. In fact, you will sin even less.
Please, do not be a doubting Danny. Be an assured Alice (unless you are a man, then be an assured Alan). Trust Him. Rest in Him. Because you are in Him.
Then go, and serve your King.

Hitting the Streets

Hey guys and gals, sorry its been a few weeks since my last posting. I have been experiencing technical problems with my computer (big surprise) but it looks like we’re up and running once again. I am very excited about the good weather returning and what that means for evangelism opportunities. Last weekend, we hit the park and had a total blast handing out tracts, getting into great conversations with people and even open air preaching. Parks officials came and had a listen to us and didnt even try to shut us down. They just told us we would be needing a permit next time for the amplification. Sweet!

This Saturday, it looked like it was not going to be a very good day at all. When I showed up, the place was empty, as you can see! But there were a few people milling around and setting up for cook-outs, and I had a buddy showing up in a few minutes who was expecting to see some evangelism in action, so I could hardly just pack it up and go home in defeat.

Randy is a solid believer with a heart for the lost who has been wanting to come out for a while and hit the streets. Today was going to be a great day because even though it started out slow, it gave us the purpose of mind to spend plenty of time explaining the gospel to people. We used some great tracts as ice-breakers to open up conversations about spiritual things. I really like the tracts we used today because they are so cool that even if someone doesn’t like the message on them, they keep them anyway. Who knows how many times they will read the gospel and keep having those seeds planted? The curved illusions are always a big hit.

When we saw these women from a distance, we were intimidated by the thought of approaching them, but it turned out well. The woman on the left was especially frightening for poor Randy, who was valiantly giving his best effort to deliver the gospel to them, but she was having fun with him. Overall, they loved our tracts and encouraged us to keep sharing with others.

We encountered a lot of young people who have Christian parents who bring them to church, but they didn’t really understand the gospel and how it all works. We were able to share with them about the difference between simply acknowledging the truth of the gospel and actually being born of the Spirit. These girls had all heard the gospel before, but didn’t quite grasp the meaning or repentance and faith. We gave them each a few tracts and shared with them our own testimonies of how we became Christians.

What was especially great about today was watching Randy break out of his comfort zone and do some radical things for Jesus. He was a bit nervous at first, but after experiencing the Lord’s faithfulness, he became more bold and more confident as the afternoon went on. This family was the last encounter we had today and Randy handled them beautifully, from start to finish.

That is the best part about going out and opening our mouths for the kingdom of God. We all have fears, and we are all afraid of rejection. But that is when we draw from His strength. We let His strength be made perfect in our weakness. Then He gets all the glory! We don’t rely on our own wisdom or power, but upon the Holy Spirit. So determine that you will share the love of God with those around you, and when you feel afraid, ask for boldness, and see what the Lord does through you.
Just think, a couple of hours out of your busy schedule on a Saturday could make the difference for eternity for someone else. Don’t hide your light under a bushel, but rather let it out for all to see. See you on the streets!!

If you are on Facebook, go to Sowing the Seed profile and become a fan. You will recieve updates on upcoming evangelism events that you can be a part of. We would love to have you along!

Cleaning the Inside of the Cup


The purpose of this blog has always been and will continue to be to equip and encourage believers to reach out to the lost and dying world around us with the message of the gospel. Each of us has not only the high calling, but also the responsibility of sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ with those who are perishing.
This week we are going to shift focus for a moment because it is important for us to have self-evaluation time as followers of Christ. If we are going to open our mouths for the kingdom of God, we don’t want the world to see us as hypocrites. Remember Jesus’ scathing rebuke aimed at the pharisees when he said they were like white-washed tombs – all clean on the outside, but inside they were full of dead men’s bones. Our hearts must be right with the Lord if we want to be true and faithful witnesses.
If you are going through a time when you aren’t in the Word, or your prayer life has been suffering, or you’ve been struggling with a certain sin, you will find that during those times you won’t exactly be filled with evangelistic zeal. Even if we were to try out of a sense of guilt or duty, you and I will not be effective witnesses if the reality of our walk with the Lord is being constantly challenged by our disobedience or neglect.
The inside of the cup must be clean as well. Of course, we all go through valleys and times of testing. I am not suggesting that we need be perfect in order to be used by God. I am a flake and he uses me, so I know he can use you. I think you understand my point.
So how do we go about examining ourselves? What are some practical ways we can look at our walk and see where we need improvement, or more specifically, repentance? I am going to give a small list of questions that is not original, which is intended for “accountability partners”. I have never personally been a huge fan of the concept of accountability partnerships because it seems to reveal a lack of understanding or reverence for God. You won’t do certain things because you’ll have to answer to your “partner”, when all the while God Himself has been right there beside you. How about not doing them because He is watching?
I am, however, a fan of prayer partners. That is, a relationship where you can confide in a trusted friend(s) about areas of struggle and you pray for and with that person(s). Spending time with brothers and sisters in the Lord and challenging each other can reveal a lot to us about our walk with the Lord, so I really like this list. You can do it with another, or just take some quiet time and go through it alone with the Lord.

1. Hi how’s your day been?
2. Did you experience any struggles/victories this week?
3. What problem has consumed you this past week?
4. How have you been tempted this past week?
5. Do you feel emotionally drawn or vulnerable to someone other than your spouse?
6. Have you lacked integrity in any of your financial dealings?
7. How’s your devotional life?; what can I pray for you about this week?
8. How have your times in the Word and prayer been?
9. Which direction is your personal relationship with Christ going?
10. Have you abused your position of ministry or leadership in any way?
11. Have you given adequate priority time to your spouse? Your kids? Your friendships? How?
12. Have you been diligent in areas of agreed-upon personal discipline, such as diet, exercise, prayer, anger-control, gossiping, morning wake-up time, sleep time,etc.?
13. What progress have you been making toward your life goals?
14. Have you observed anything in my life that I need to hear about?
15. Have you lied to me in any of your answers?

Again, this list is intended for accountability partnerships, but as you can see it can easily be adapted in order for us to reflect on our own life and our relationship with the Lord. Take time to make sure the inside of your cup is clean.
See you on the streets!

Priorities

Every day each of us wakes up and finds ourselves with a new opportunity to serve the King of the universe. I know that most of the time it may be difficult to see it that way when we have schedules to keep, bills to pay, people to see, etc., but the fact remains that all the while we go about our daily routine, there is a bigger picture in this thing called life that we need to keep in focus. When we were born into the family of God, we were also given a high calling, which is far above anything else we may aspire to achieve. Though we could climb the highest pinnacle of success in this life, if we put that first in our affections, we will fail to fulfill our God-given purpose to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ to a fallen creation.
What do you wake up and think about every day? Work? Vacation? Money? Hobbies? Are you thankful that the Lord has given you another day? Starting out with this attitude is a great reminder and motivator for spending your time and resources wisely for the Kingdom. Are you making the most out of every opportunity to serve the living God?
His rewards will far outweigh anything the world has to offer. Jesus instructed us to build up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt. If Jesus taught us to do it, then I would submit to you that it is quite legitimate to do so. In all your decision making, keep eternity in mind. In your spending habits, consider the long term rewards in what you are doing. How and where you spend your time should be governed by a heart that is completely consumed by wanting to live for the glory of God.
If you’re anything like me, and you have some things to talk to the Lord about, just speak to Him as a child would speak to their parent. If your not all that fired up about change, then ask the Lord to change your heart. Confess any sins, and take God at His word that you are forgiven, then let the joy of knowing your sins are forgiven and that your name is written in heaven motivate you into service.
Tell others about the amazing gift of life that God has provided in Jesus Christ. See you on the streets!!