Money is Spiritual, Not Just Practical (Part 1)

I preached on two occasions this couple of weeks about money and God. Before I share with you about that in my next entry, here are some quotes on money:

"I have made millions and they have not brought me happiness." (John Rockefeller)

"Money often comes between men and God... It doesn't take large quantities of money to come between us and God; just a little, placed in the wrong position, will effectively obscure the view." (A. W. Tozer)

"Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money." (source unknown)

"There are two ways in which a Christian may view his money -- "How much of my money shall I use for God?" or "How much of God's money shall I use for myself?" (W. Graham Scroggie)

"The real measure of our wealth is how much we'd be worth if we lost all our money." (J.H. Jowett)

"Money will buy a bed, but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport everywhere but heaven." (Discipleship Journal)

"Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need more." (Addisson Hallock)

"Money is a lousy means of keeping score. The futility of riches is stated very plainly in two places: the Bible and the income tax form." (Official Rules)

"How we handle money reveals much about the depth of our commitment to Christ. That's why Jesus often talked about money. One sixth of the Gospels, including one out of every three parables, touches on stewardship, Jesus was not a fundraiser. He dealt with money matters because money matters. For some of us, it matters too much." (Daily Bread)

"If Christianity has no impact on our pocketbooks and the way that we use our credit cards, Christianity is not worth very much." (Coty Pinckney)

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Peggy on Perception

How can people look at a particular situation (whether "people," "things," or "events") and come to such completely different conclusions? How can they hold such different interpretations of reality? Understanding such differences depends upon recognizing the "power of perception."

None of us sees the events of our lives in a totally objective way. Our views are determined by our own personal attitudes, values, beliefs and expectations—and our own personal agendas made up of our learned, but ever-changing, needs, wants, fears, etc. We then filter everything through this lens that makes up our individual "world view" and assign meaning to the people, things, and events in our lives based on our personal interpretation. So the best way to understand our drastically different interpretations of things is to recognize the incredible power of the way each of us perceives the events in our lives.

While this is true when it comes to dealing with affairs, it's also applicable to all areas of our lives. So the next time you hear someone say something that sounds absolutely crazy to you, you'll get a very different understanding if you realize that each person's perception makes perfect sense based on their own unique way of viewing the world. Stopping to consider what has gone into their particular world view (which determines their perception) can make a tremendous difference in our ability to relate to each other more effectively—within our families, at our places of work, and in society as a whole.

Thank You

Life Is Sweet!

I believe that God is way more concerned about our character than our comfort. And that He sometimes uses the trials of adversity to refine our character. I want you to learn from Darren, a healing "mentor" for many. He is an inspiration and example. He's a Christian who experienced betrayal and pain from an adulterous wife about 5 years ago. Now he's saying "Life is sweet!" Catch him at his latest public blog and pics to know why HERE... Anne Brecht (www.beyondaffairs.com) is right on many points in Darren's case: "keep your hands off and things unravel on their own," "do the right thing," "do not take matters into your own hands," "just because your spouse has "lowered" themselves doesn't mean you should "lower" yourself too," "sometimes, in love, you have to let go," "in due time, those who do such wrong will be punished," "live your best life, your best revenge" .... The Bible says, "God works all things together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purposes" (Romans 8:28) May the tribe of Darren, a man of Christian character and integrity, increase!

God Takes Care of All

I'd seen the classic literary masterpiece Pilgrim's Progress on film. It was written by John Bunyan, an English preacher in the 1600s who got imprisoned for over 12 years while his family encountered great burdens. In his autobiography, Bunyan wrote:

"I found myself compassed with infirmities; the parting with my wife and poor children hath oft been to me in this place as the pulling the flesh from my bones, and that not only because I have often brought to mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family was to meet with, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides; O the thoughts of the hardship I thought my blind one might go under would break my heart to pieces. Poor child, thought I, what sorrow art thou like to have for thy portion in this world? Thou must beg, suffer hunger, cold, nakedness, and a thousand calamities, though I cannot now endure the wind should blow upon thee. But that which helped me in this temptation was the consideration of this Scripture, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in Me.' I had this consideration, that if I should now venture all for God, I engaged God to take care of my concernments."

"Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me" (Jeremiah 49:11).

The War Zone

When there is going to be a war, you want to know where the war zone is. If you don't know where the war zone is, you might end up a casualty or miss the war altogether! The war zone for Christian missions before Christ returns is in the 10/40 Window!

The 10/40 WINDOW refers to an imaginary line from the 10th degree parallel north to the 40th degree parallel north.

STATISTICS ABOUT THE 10/40 WINDOW WAR ZONE:

Center of population: Two-thirds of the world's population -- more than 3.2 billion people -- live in the 10/40 Window.

Unreached and unevangelized:
95% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized. Many have never heard the Gospel message even once. There are either no Christians or not enough of a Christian movement in many cultures of the 10/40 Window to carry out vibrant near-neighbor evangelism. If those groups are to be evangelized, believers will need to leave their own culture to enter another where they will seek to plant the gospel. Such cross-cultural evangelism is required because there are people groups with no church movements that are understandable or relevant to them.

Good news:
There's a difference between unreached and unreachable. In 1989 there were only four known Christians living in Mongolia. That country now has an estimated 10,000 indigenous believers. Also, Christian television programming can now be received in many closed 10/40 Window nations.

Poverty: Eighty-five percent of those living in the 10/40 window are the poorest of the world's poor.

Good news:
Christians delivered more than $1 million worth of food to just one 10/40 Window refugee camp in a recent year. In one North African country that is hostile to the Gospel, abundant rain fell after an Easter service. A local news channel reported, "Christians have brought rain to the desert."

World religions:
Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are centered within the 10/40 Window.

Least evangelized cities:
Half of the world's least evangelized cities are in this window.

Global harvest: Countries in the area designated as the 10/40 Window

Will You Go With Me To A House of Prostitution?

A stranger knocked on the door of a pastor.

The stranger asked, "Will you go with me to a house of prostitution?"

Pastor followed the stranger into a seamy, red-light district and met a dying teenager prostitute.

The dying girl told the pastor: "I knew you would come and pray with me, for I'm going to die. The girls here don't believe I'm going to die, but I know I am."

As the pastor shared God's Word and knelt to pray by the dying girl, the other girls knelt too, sobbing.

The dying prostitute girl cried, "Wonderful! The Good Shepherd has found me and He's holding me close to His heart."

The teenage prostitute finally died.

Years later, in another city, a woman came to the pastor and asked, "Don't you recognize me? I'm that stranger who told you of Mary's passing away. But there's something else I wanted to tell you. That morning when the Good Shepherd brought Mary in on one shoulder, I came in on the other."

"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!" (Luke 15:6)

Global LBS

God has put a passion and call in my life to reach the nations for Christ in ways where He can use me. One of them is through LBS (or, Life Bible School - http://www.lifebibleschool.com). From the practical standpoint, it looked impossible for I didn't have a dollar for it! I started LBS about 3 years ago to "empower the native missionaries for world mission" through free online mission education. Today, LBS, after just a short time, reaches over 400 international students in more than 35 countries. It has become a "global, high-impact ministry on a shoestring budget!" In the United States and Korea, the world's two biggest missionary-sending nations, millions of dollars are raised and spent to send missionaries to the nations. I'm humbled by the fact that God will use me too as a special missionary to reach nations for Christ that seems unexpected - and only for the price of a few cups of coffee each week! I'm reminded of OMF founder Hudson Taylor during trying times, he said, "I only have 25 cents -- and all the promises of God!" Truly, God is faithful to fulfill His call and promises to His children.

A look At Inner Beauty

In our culture, externals get over-emphasized. Appearance. Cosmetics. Clothing. Jewelry. Hair dressing. For women especially, it can be easy to begin judging one's self solely by appearance. That is often what our culture does. Honestly, I tend to appreciate a woman who is pretty when I get to see one. I mean, her adornment, her shape. She's an amazing creation of God! But I also always cringe and wonder -- what happens when her external beauty deteriorates with age? Will man still love or look at her? Then, perspective restores my balance about what is "permanent beauty." Physical beauty is temporal. Inner beauty is eternal. Peter describes this inner beauty as the "hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3: 3-4). External beauty is important but not as important as internal beauty. If the inner beauty is high, it's amazing how much less significant the external appearance becomes!