Wed Mar 10, 2010
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Leave the pity party |
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Self-pity is no party, my friends! Perhaps we’ve all thrown one of these at least once in our lives. Maybe we know some folks who throw one every day.
It can be easy to justify our sorrow. We feel people have done us wrong, our life is spinning out of our control, our dreams have been shattered, or we see ourselves as the victim of circumstances. So we may believe we have good reason to be down and depressed.
We need to leave this pity party, my friends, because these thought patterns are toxic and never worthwhile. They will destroy our hope for a better tomorrow and stifle us into a martyr complex that will blind us from our purpose and potential. Besides, no one has a good and happy time at a pity party!
I’ve held a few pity parties in my life. My favorite occasion for one is when I’m feeling unappreciated and misunderstood.
During a recent pity party, I came across a definition of self-pity which explained that self-pity doesn’t come from a sense of worthiness but f...more > |
The Way |
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"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14, NASB)
Have you ever noticed that when you are driving and become distracted by something to the right or to the left suddenly you find yourself weaving to one side or the other of the road you are on? If you do not become aware of it and correct your course the result could be disastrous. But we, being human, become distracted very easily resulting in our eyes moving off of God and onto something that may well lead you off your path to Him. Career, money, house, car, relationships, worries, anger, resentment, there are so many different things that Satan can use to draw our focus off of God.
Imagine if you were driving towards a tunnel that was only wide enough for you and your vehicle to enter through. Would you allo...more > |
Family: An endangerd species |
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The final and most important D is:
III. DEVOTED CONTINUALLY
If you want to have a better marriage you both must be devoted continually to each other.
Marriage is a terminal relationship–not because it will kill you–but because it is designed to be in effect until one of the partners dies. It is to be a permanent relationship. We all know people who terminated their marriage before one of the partners died: they got a divorce. Many of you listening to me have gone through the pain and agony of divorce.
I’ve even heard people say, “It was God’s will for me to get a divorce.” I cringe inside every time I hear that. May I respectfully ask you, whoever you are, and whatever pain you have endured, please never, ever say divorce is
God’s will. You can say it is tragic, painful, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and dreadful, but never say it is God’s will. People act as if God’s will is some deep dark mystery you can never uncover or discern.
A few years ago, Paul Simon w...more > |
Family: An endangerd species part 3 |
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We all want to “receive compliments” but in marriage it is “more blessed to give than to receive”
admiration. Ladies, most of you realize the tough macho image your husband projects is just a
facade. Underneath, he is an insecure little boy. He has a fragile male ego, and you are wise if
you know how to massage his ego. It’s easy for wives to become hypercritical, especially since
you are in to noticing “details” more than men. Your husband really may not even notice those dirty socks he leaves on the floor, and you think he put them there just to make you mad. Ladies, look for the positive things about your husband and constantly reinforce those qualities. Don’t be like the wife who said to her husband, “I married you for your brains...it’s the little things that count!”
Guys, your wife wants to hear sweet talk from you. Have you ever noticed how guys greet each other? I can meet with some of my golf buddies and I can say, “Hello, ugly, who let you out of ...more > |
Family: An endangerd species part 2 |
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Cindy wrote me a note that read, “Dear David, I hate you. Love, Cindy.” So, I’m no expert on marriage, but I’m trying to learn to be a better husband!
This message is entitled “How to Build a 3-D Marriage.” If you want to build a better marriage here are three things you can do. They all start with a “D,” so I call it a 3-D marriage:
I. DIALOGUE DAILY
It’s important for you and your spouse to spend quality time talking every day. Good communication is the mark of a healthy marriage. A breakdown of communication will cause problems. I heard a funny story about a couple who was having communication problems, so the husband was giving his wife the “silent treatment.” She joined in the game, so they spent several days without speaking to each other. The husband was leaving the next morning on a business, trip and needed his wife to wake him up at 5 a.m. so he could catch his early flight. Not wanting to be the first to say, “I’m sorry” and end the silence, he...more > |
Family: An endangerd species |
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At one time the “typical” family consisted of a husband who worked, a wife who was a full-time mom and two kids. Is that kind of family becoming an endangered species? Some reports seem to indicate it is true. The results of the 2000 Census revealed that about four out of ten American families with children under the age of 18 are single parent families. (compared to 13% of families in 1970) Six out of ten children under the age of 18 at one point will live in a singleparent family; this is the age of the absentee or part-time dad, because single moms head nine out of ten single-parent families.
In spite of some of these reports, I am optimistic about the future of the family. Not too many years ago, the buffalo, whooping crane, and the humpback whale were on the endangered species list; today they are thriving. I think the Family is on the verge of making a comeback. I read an article this week in USA Today that said since 9/11 more people in America are realizing the importance ...more > |
Can't |
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Can't
remember if I told you, but I have
moved out from Beggars
Alley, located at 2
Poverty Lane
at the corner of Down
and Out Circle
As of today, I have a brand new home .
My new address is Living
Well on 231 Abundance Terrace ,
located at the corner of Blessings Drive
and Prosperity Peak .
It's in the God
Can neighborhood.
No longer will I allow myself to travel to the other side of town onBegging
Peter to Pay Paul Route ,
located at a dead end intersection called
I Don't Have , which connects with Borrowers
Junction! .
I no longer hang out at Failure's Place ,
near Excuses Avenue |
The ministry of Angels: Part 3 |
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Betty Turman in our church writes about an afternoon many of you can remember a couple of years ago.
“I had the most amazing experience with angels on December 24, 1990. That Christmas season Tyler had a lot of ice. South Broadway was partially clear, but there was still a lot of thin ice in slick patches. People had just turned on their headlights and it was already dark at 5 PM. As I turned right on Broadway coming out of Brookshire’s parking lot, I started into a skid. In that split second before, I had reminded myself to be very careful. I had looked ahead through my windshield and seen so many lights of oncoming traffic and in my rear view mirror there was much more traffic bearing down on me. My car spun at least two full turns and finally stopped in the middle of the highway facing the opposite direction from which I had started. There was no way on earth I could have survived without the intervention of angels. I felt like in those three to five seconds angels had halted t...more > |
Are you dressed? |
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“Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."' "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.' Those slaves went out to the streets and gathered together all ...more > |
The ministry of Angels: Part 2 |
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2. ANGELS PROVIDE FOR OUR NEEDS
Not only do they pronounce God’s message, but secondly they provide for our needs. The question often asked is, “If angels are ministering spirits and then we have God’s blessed Holy Spirit what’s the difference between the two? Why doesn’t he just do everything through his Holy Spirit?” I’m not about to tell you I know all the mysteries of the scriptures. There is a certain mystery about the person of God and the reality of angels we can never figure out but as best I can determine, it seems like God’s Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us as Christians. Angels never live inside of a person and the Holy Spirit ministers to us spiritually, whereas God’s ministering spirits have been given the ability to minister to us even physically.
Look at Elijah’s example in 1 Kings 19:5. “He lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat!’” Elijah was physically exhausted, emotionall...more > |
Contentment and Godliness |
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Each year my family requests that we submit our Christmas list. Each year I have a hard time coming up with one. I always say that I know there are things that I have thought that I wanted through the year, but when it comes to making a list, I draw a blank. That is until I begin looking through the stores or catalogues and seeing those things that I couldn't remember that I wanted. So I submit my list and look forward to seeing what I get. I am usually very blessed and thankful for those things that I get. However, there are always one or two things that I am disappointed that I didn't get and will not be content until I have. Trap sprung!
How many times do we see this in children? One child is perfectly content with what they have until they see what another child has. Then the first child is no longer content and seemingly cannot live without that which the other child has.
What's this all about? How is it that we are able to move so quickly and easily from t...more > |
The Ministry of Angels: Part 1 |
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When we were in the former Soviet Union this summer, we bought some watches. On the watch band was a figure of a man’s face. We tried to ask who he was but we did not have a translator at that time and so the people kept pointing to the sky. We sort of wrinkled our brow and asked, “Is that Jesus? Is that God?” We finally found out it was neither. It was the first Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who was a great hero to the Soviet people. In 1960 he was the first man blasted into space and wh...more > |
Bondage to M&M's |
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I am a very spoiled child. I am the baby of the family and growing up I was the apple of my grandfather's eye. My grandmother used to say that he and I were "like two peas in a pod". When we would visit them on their farm in Iowa, he and I would go everywhere together, to the coop, to pick up the "bean walkers" (he was a soybean farmer), and even out on the tractor during harvest. I loved being with him and I loved him doting on me with his neighbors and buying me M&M's. Life was good.
Then came the day I'll never forget. I don't remember what I wanted to do, but I can remember asking my grandfather repeatedly to let me. He patiently told me that I couldn't because I was in my good clothes. I argued with him, in my sweet granddaughter way, that the clothes weren't special and that it would be okay. I was not used to him telling me no.
According to my mother (his daughter), he was not used to children, much less a 7 or 8 year old, arguing with him. I found this o...more > |
Say goodbye to your demons |
 A couple of weeks ago when we read that Jesus cast out demons, I didn’t say much about it
because I said I would devote more attention to demons in a later message. Today we’re going to
talk about demons.
Through the years I’ve learned the devil and his demons don’t want information damaging to
their work to be revealed. Years ago in Alabama, when I was preaching about Satan being a
defeated foe, right in the middle of the message, a huge wasp started dive-bombing me in the
pulpit. I had to swat him away several times. I wanted to say, “Demon of the wasp—get out of
here!” Maybe it was just coincidence, but that’s the only time a wasp has every interrupted my
preaching. And this week has been a challenge as well. Whether it’s the East Texas crud, or
sinus drainage, or demonic intimidation, I could hardly speak above a whisper on Friday. But I
had already determined I was NOT going to miss the chance to preach today even if I have to
whisper it, or even whist...more > |
Giving thanks in all circumstances |
 Does God really mean that in every circumstance that we are to be thankful? How can we possibly be thankful when things go horribly wrong? It’s easy to understand that we are to give thanks for all the blessings that come our way. Today is an entire holiday in the USA set aside for doing just that. People will gather with family and friends all over the country, have a big meal, and give thanks to whatever or whoever they think is the force behind their good fortune. But what do you do when it is hard to see the blessing in the midst of the tragedy?
I have noticed two approaches to the verse. One is hardly worth mentioning but the other is commonly thought to be the answer to the dilemma of being thankful in hard times. The first is to put on some almost other-worldly expression of thanks that totally ignores the reality of the situation. It is the person who is smiling in the midst of tragedy saying, “well praise God and give thanks in all things”. They come off as being on som...more > |
The parable of burying the dead |
 Perhaps you’ve heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic book, The Cost of Discipleship. I heard someone say once that “a literary classic is a book that everyone talks about but nobody reads.”
But the title really makes sense when you learn the story of Bonhoeffer’s life and death. Bonhoeffer was a young pastor in Germany during the 1930s as Hitler’s popularity was growing. He was a pacifist and refused to get involved with the political scene. But in the early 1940s when Bonhoeffer and other pastors began to learn about how the Jews were being rounded up and slaughtered, he realized he could no longer remain silent. As a follower of Jesus he couldn’t stand by while these atrocities were being carried out by the Fuhrer. So, Bonhoeffer joined the underground German resistance and was part of a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. He and the other conspirators were discovered and arrested and thrown into a Nazi prison. While in prison, Bonhoeffer served as a pastor to the oth...more > |
God Speaks…through Kittens? |
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It sounds like a tabloid headline, “Texas Woman Hears God Speaking Through Her Kittens.” But this is one of the many ways I have discovered God speaking to me, in my language. Since God can speak through a burning bush (Exodus 3:1-4, NASB) and a donkey (Numbers 22:22-33), why not kittens?
Just over a year ago my husband and I moved from “in town” onto a few acres in the country. As we were looking for our new home, one of the things I told my husband was if we found a place that had little or no traffic, I wanted to get some “farm cats”. Soon after we moved in to our place on a dead-end road, I began keeping an eye out for those wonderful “Free Kitten” signs. Then for Valentine’s Day, my husband let me bring home two 12-week old kittens - “Little John” (the largest of the litter) & “Tucker” (short for Friar Tuck).
My husband and I discussed at length that these were to be outside cats ONLY. We would under no circumstances make them into inside...more > |
Learning to be positive |
 In May of 2004, Saturday Night Live introduced the character of Debbie Downer to the world.
Debbie’s last name is taken from the Slang for Downer – which refers to someone who persistently adds bad news or negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them.
In every skit, we find Debbie in a happy, joyful environment, and within moments she is bringing up horrible facts, or pointing out the negative in life…after every comment, you here the orchestra play…wah, wah…
The skit became an instant classic. People loved it because, as they say, comedy imitates life. We all know people like Debbie. People who just bring others down. Sometimes we call them Debbie Downers, sometimes we call them Eeyore.
If they bring you down too much, you might not call them at all. Maybe that personality describes you today. Maybe you tend toward the negative in life. You’ve lost your joy, life never seems to work out for you, everywhere you look, you see unh...more > |
Desperate Households |
 The title is based on the show “Desperate Housewives.” I’ve never actually watched an episode of this show, but it is one of the most talked-about television shows of our time. Since I don’t know anything about the characters or plot, I asked for some help from my Facebook friends. Only a few admitted to actually watching it, and based upon their descriptions, I’ve put together a synopsis of the show: “Desperate Housewives follows the lives of a group of women, seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor, who committed suicide in the first season.
The women live on Wisteria Lane (which is appropriate because wisteria is a fast growing vine that can choke and kill other plants). And while wisteria is killing the host plant, it will be blossoming as beautifully as ever. Just like wisteria, these women are pretty to look at, but they can be deadly and destructive.”
I did get one poignant comment about the show from Latham Craft, one of our teenagers. He wrote: “If y...more > |
The Gospel according to TV |
 The Gospel according to TV
“And Now a Word from our Sponsor.”
Television has been around for almost 70 years now, and shows have come and gone. But from the very beginning, an important part of television has been the commercials. Without the sponsors paying for the shows, there would be no television, and without the consumer buying the products, there would be no sponsors.
Of course, many of us think TV commercials are irritating. And with the advent of TiVo and DVRs, most of us just record programs and fast forward through the commercials. That’s why sponsors are now spending billions on product placement in movies and television shows. It’s also called “embedded advertising.” For instance, do you know how much Coca-Cola pays “American Idol” to have their Coca-Cola cups in front of the judges? They pay $56 million a season, but they know you won’t fast forward through that! I asked my Facebook friends about their favorite and least favorite television comme...more > |
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM Abortion restoration ministry slated Oct.13 |
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Are you one of the 50 million women that have been affected by abortion? While you might feel alone in your shame and guilt, you are not! Find the path to healing through honest, interactive Bible study; meaningful group experiences; unique journaling exercises; and a confidential caring community.
Did you know that 43% of women have experienced an abortion? Others have encouraged someone to get an abortion, and now regret that action. These are your sisters, mothers, wives and friends. They carry an incredible burden while wearing a smile on their face. Many struggle for years with repressed memories, guilt, shame and depression.
Longview Christian Fellowship is pleased to announce the second session of a new ministry for Abortion Restoration & Healing. This ministry, Spirit Of Freedom, will be lead by Teresa May. The first session, which started in May of 2009, was a great success.
The Spirit Of Freedom Abortion Restoration & Healing Ministry includes an eight-week D...more > |
Family T.I.M.E. |
 INTRODUCTION:
One of my favorite stories is about the man who worked at a factory. One of his main jobs was to blow the factory whistle at 5:00 to indicate the workday was over. He walked to work each day and passed a jewelry store where a beautiful grandfather clocka was displayed in the window. Every morning, he stopped and set his pocket watch to match the time on the grandfather clock.
One morning the storeowner was out front sweeping the sidewalk and the factory worker asked him how he kept such accurate time on the grandfather clock. The jeweler said, “Oh, I set it every afternoon when the factory whistle blows at 5:00.” That could lead to trouble! People live by the clock, because time is important to all of us. Benjamin Franklin said, “Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.” As I complete this series on the Family, I want us to talk about the importance of spending time with your family.
Many frustrated people seem to always fight the clo...more > |
The miracle of overcoming Satan |
 Again, I’ve had people tell me they did something bad in their past because the temptation was just too strong. That’s not true, because God’s Word says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. [That means your temptation isn’t unique to you—others have faced it and resisted it.] And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1Corinthians 10:13) Notice God always provides a “way out.” That means when you face a temptation, if you look around you’ll find an escape route, so RUN FROM IT! The best way to resist sin is to simply stay away from tempting situations, and if you find yourself in one, turn and run away from it as fast as you can. Don’t make a deal with the devil. Remember what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him? He ran away so forcefully that he left his robe in her hand. The Bible says to ...more > |
The miracle of overcoming Satan |
 There were three specific temptations Satan tossed at Jesus, and they are the same temptations we face today. Satan isn’t very creative. He is the opposite of God and God is the ultimate Creator. Satan is the same old tired tempter he’s always been. He doesn’t have any new tricks.
He’s stuck in a rut, and we really can recognize his strategy. That’s exactly what Paul wrote when he observed, “In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) Let’s examine these three temptations and learn how Satan uses them today to tempt us.
Stones into Bread: Do something selfish to meet your physical needs!
First, there was the temptation to turn stones into bread. Basically, Satan was suggesting to Jesus: “Do something selfish to meet your physical needs!” Satan always tries to appeal to our base nature first—our physical needs. There’s no doubt Jesus was extremely hungry after fasting for forty days. I’ve walked throu...more > |
Taping for TBN |
 We Believe God’s Word Full Gospel Outreach Association and Presiding Bishop Lyonel Traylor invites you to our Annual 2009 Confernece, Thursday, Friday, July 16, 17, at 7:00pm., Saturday, July 18, session will be at 10:00am and 7:00pm at the Mount Pleasa...more > |
Are you in the game? |
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You are on the team, but are you in the game?...more > |
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