Save your money
Counsel to save your money!
Proverbs 21:20 NLT
“The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.”
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Author: Wesley Fryer
The Table of Demons
Where is “The Table of Demons” today?
1 Corinthians 10:21
“You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.”
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Distraction, Focus & Questions: Chapter 25 of The Screwtape Letters
Tomorrow I’m teaching a lesson at our Friday morning men’s group on Chapter 25 of C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Screwtape Letters.” It’s a challenging book to read and understand for several reasons, principally because Lewis wrote the book from the perspective of a “senior demon” writing to an underling. He’s very clever, but it’s challenging at times to interpret and chapter 25 is no exception. I titled this lesson, “Distraction, Focus & Questions,” and created some slides to accompany our lesson which I’ve shared on SlideShare.
Distraction, Focus & Questions
View more presentations from Wesley Fryer
The video “Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)” which I’ll be showing is available on Vimeo. It is no longer available on YouTube because of a copyright violation. Interesting.
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Clear Teaching on the sin of homosexual behavior
These verses from the apostle Paul are clear and unequivocal concerning the sin of homosexual behavior.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
“Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
See it at YouVersion.com: http://bible.us/1Cor6.9.NLT
Sent from my iPhone
Be ready to show kindness & give hospitality
I love the exhortations in these verses: We are called to show kindness and hospitality. Dad and I are really seeing and experiencing this while we are in Montana this week.
Never underestimate the power of a kind word which can be used by God for good. Few things are as basic as sharing a meal with someone or opening up your home to them. When we share our lives and listen to each other, we can become open vessels for the Lord’s blessings.
I pray God will make us all vessels to show his kindness and love to others.
Romans 12:8
“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”
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Romans 12:13
“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.”
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Notes from the Intro Egypt Video and How Big is Our God?
These are my notes from Ray Vanderlaan’s video series about Egypt
http://www.followtherabbi.com/ In the east, story is always an invitation to join in
– we are all invited to join in not as observers, but as participants How Big is Our God? Western question: How did they build the pyramids?
Eastern question: Why did they build the pyramids. We are going to look at “The God Story” as it is rooted in Egypt Now looking at Karnak Temple in city of Thebes
– easterners preferred to experience their stories through pictures MY THOUGHT: WITH LESS ACCESS TO TEXTS, PICTURES AND SCULPTURES WERE MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE. ALSO, THEY ARE MORE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO COMMUNICATE WITH AN ILLITERATE POPULOUS. Pharaoh’s job was to maintain order
– Mat means order
– if Pharaoh does his job, the gods were believed to do what they were expected to do: bring rains, floods, new life through birth, etc. Shepherds crook and flail are always in Rameses hands in sculptures, shows his roles, authority and power Now in Hypostyle Hall
134 columns, biggest over 70 feet high Daily journey of the sun was a key part of the separation between order and chaos Pharaoh mediated the gods for the ancient Egyptians MY THOUGHT: I NEED TO GET A DESCRIPTION TO STEVE FOR THE FALL WEDNESDAY NIGHT CLASS I WANT TO LEAD: “DIGITAL WITNESSES FOR CHRIST” Pharaoh did all the religious rituals in Egypt, to keep the gods happy
– there were thousands of temples in Egypt, so he couldn’t do all of them
– rituals are always carved in stone to represent Pharoah doing them gold is called “the skin of the gods” in the Egyptian world
– they didn’t think the statue was the god, it was rather a marker to tell go where the god lived/lives
– this is similar to the Israelites who built The Temple in Jerusalem Exodus Chapter 12: God says he will execute judgement on the gods of the Egyptians
– there was power here, it wasn’t all just story and myth Deuteronomy 32 Don’t forget there is demonic power behind these rituals, sacrifices, beliefs Te Egyptian story has a price tag – they believed nature was/contained the gods
– that system glorifies and eventually deified the human
– morality is what the human says That is the opposite of God’s Story Our culture today has bought into the wrong story Genesis tells us nature is NOT God Hang on to the story! Sent from my iPad
http://www.followtherabbi.com/ In the east, story is always an invitation to join in
– we are all invited to join in not as observers, but as participants How Big is Our God? Western question: How did they build the pyramids?
Eastern question: Why did they build the pyramids. We are going to look at “The God Story” as it is rooted in Egypt Now looking at Karnak Temple in city of Thebes
– easterners preferred to experience their stories through pictures MY THOUGHT: WITH LESS ACCESS TO TEXTS, PICTURES AND SCULPTURES WERE MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE. ALSO, THEY ARE MORE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO COMMUNICATE WITH AN ILLITERATE POPULOUS. Pharaoh’s job was to maintain order
– Mat means order
– if Pharaoh does his job, the gods were believed to do what they were expected to do: bring rains, floods, new life through birth, etc. Shepherds crook and flail are always in Rameses hands in sculptures, shows his roles, authority and power Now in Hypostyle Hall
134 columns, biggest over 70 feet high Daily journey of the sun was a key part of the separation between order and chaos Pharaoh mediated the gods for the ancient Egyptians MY THOUGHT: I NEED TO GET A DESCRIPTION TO STEVE FOR THE FALL WEDNESDAY NIGHT CLASS I WANT TO LEAD: “DIGITAL WITNESSES FOR CHRIST” Pharaoh did all the religious rituals in Egypt, to keep the gods happy
– there were thousands of temples in Egypt, so he couldn’t do all of them
– rituals are always carved in stone to represent Pharoah doing them gold is called “the skin of the gods” in the Egyptian world
– they didn’t think the statue was the god, it was rather a marker to tell go where the god lived/lives
– this is similar to the Israelites who built The Temple in Jerusalem Exodus Chapter 12: God says he will execute judgement on the gods of the Egyptians
– there was power here, it wasn’t all just story and myth Deuteronomy 32 Don’t forget there is demonic power behind these rituals, sacrifices, beliefs Te Egyptian story has a price tag – they believed nature was/contained the gods
– that system glorifies and eventually deified the human
– morality is what the human says That is the opposite of God’s Story Our culture today has bought into the wrong story Genesis tells us nature is NOT God Hang on to the story! Sent from my iPad
Phil Tappert sharing about University Fellowship in Montpellier, France
Phil Tappert is a Christian missionary serving college students with his family in Montpellier, France. This morning he addressed our Friday men’s group and shared for about twenty minutes. Phil is a good storyteller and mainly related excerpts from testimonies college students wrote at the end of the year about the impact of the ministry on their lives. Phil, his wife and son (who will actually start school at Hardin Simmons in Abilene, Texas, this September) use their home for worship services, meals, and times of fellowship with students. They distribute 10,000 invitational flyers to students at the university in Montpellier which has over 80,000 students. Phil gave me permission to share this no-edit audio recording of his message today, which I recorded on my iPhone using Cinch. Phil’s presentation actually begins 1 min and 28 seconds into this recording.
Phil used a slide projector and the fan noise is a bit distracting in this recording, but Phil projected his voice well and you can still hear him.
Why Do We Suffer as Christ Followers?
This morning in our Sunday School class we watched another episode from Ray VanderLaan’s excellent series, “In the Footsteps of the Rabbi.”
http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=20615 The setting was Cappadocia, in modern day Turkey. I visited Cappadocia in 1984, so this was a particularly powerful segment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia Ray used a verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians to discuss the question of why we suffer as Christ’s body. Colossians 1:24
“I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.” See it at YouVersion.com:
http://bible.us/Col1.24.NLT Colossians 1:24
“I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world-the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering.” See it at YouVersion.com:
http://bible.us/Col1.24.MSG While each of us may not be suffering today for the cause of Christ, we ARE suffering as a Body. We need to not only remember and not forget the suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters in the past, but also pray for those today who suffer. This series today reminds me of the project, 3 Minutes About Jesus:
http://3minutesaboutjesus.org It is so important to listen to the testimonies of others and share our own about God’s acts in our lives. Past generations of Christians suffered so they could pass on the faith to us. We need to take up that torch and work intensely to pass on our faith. We must tell our stories. We must listen to the stories of others. We should not “dabble in discipleship,” as Ray exhorted us in this video today. We need to be full time face-to-face and digital witnesses for Christ. Sent from my iPad
http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=20615 The setting was Cappadocia, in modern day Turkey. I visited Cappadocia in 1984, so this was a particularly powerful segment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia Ray used a verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians to discuss the question of why we suffer as Christ’s body. Colossians 1:24
“I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.” See it at YouVersion.com:
http://bible.us/Col1.24.NLT Colossians 1:24
“I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world-the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering.” See it at YouVersion.com:
http://bible.us/Col1.24.MSG While each of us may not be suffering today for the cause of Christ, we ARE suffering as a Body. We need to not only remember and not forget the suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters in the past, but also pray for those today who suffer. This series today reminds me of the project, 3 Minutes About Jesus:
http://3minutesaboutjesus.org It is so important to listen to the testimonies of others and share our own about God’s acts in our lives. Past generations of Christians suffered so they could pass on the faith to us. We need to take up that torch and work intensely to pass on our faith. We must tell our stories. We must listen to the stories of others. We should not “dabble in discipleship,” as Ray exhorted us in this video today. We need to be full time face-to-face and digital witnesses for Christ. Sent from my iPad
Choose Your Master
Paul reminds us we choose our Master, and to that Master we become habitually obedient.
Romans 6:16
“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”
See it at YouVersion.com:
The Lord’s purpose will prevail
My life is certainly a testimony to the truth of this verse! Someday I shall tell the tale.
Proverbs 19:21
“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
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